Old children's book question, inspired by Aristus'

old movie thread.

When I was in sixth grade, in 1959, I read a children's book that I have never been able to relocate.

In the book, an older daughter refuses to live with her family any more. She lives instead with an older, dour woman, down the road. She changes her last name to the woman's name. I believe she called herself Annabelle Potts.

The two younger children in the family go to the rundown house where the dour woman lives. They discover an entry into another world, through the back of a closet. (No, this is not The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). That is the place their older sister goes.

The children become tiny when they cross a bridge into this world. They go to a castle there, and come back very bratty and spoiled. A seemingly addled neighbor helps break the spell of this other world.

The book is actually quite funny and satirical. I don't remember enough to find it again. It is probably long out of print.

If anyone remembers this book, please let me know. Thanks!

maybe it was a story by Edith Nesbit? Is there a Sci/Fi Literature forum here? If so, someone there might recognize it. One time I was at a party with a bunch of sci-fi enthusiasts and I started to describe a fantasy book I'd read as a child and before I could finish describing the plot two people had blurted out the author's name (Edward Eager, another children's fantasy story writer who was inspired by Nesbit).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Nesbit (lists the books she wrote)

I have read some Nesbit. I will try that.

I am sure this is long out of print.

The frustrating thing about this is that I have very good memory for books. I was a children's librarian for a long time, then I became an administrator. The kids could come to me and describe any plot, and I would find it. Even when they told me the book was orange and pink, or had bunnies on the cover, I located it. This is driving me crazy.

I will try that forum.

you could try posting your question is at www.librarything.com

They have a forum where you can ask questions. I saw someone just found the name of a book there that they had been searching for, for awhile. I was going to suggest asking a librarian but since you were one, that rules that out! Do you know if the author was male or female? That might narrow the search somewhat.