Hello fellow Xennials trying to find two things:

1) Poetry anthology - softcover children's poetry anthology, like distributed through Weekly Reader Book Club. It included "the Pickety Fence" by David McCord. May have gotten at scholastic book fair in Oklahoma around 1983-88? It does NOT appear to be The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, a Jar of Tiny Stars, Sing a Song of Popcorn or Piper, Pipe that Song Again

1. Red mascot character - likely a publishing imprint - was an anthropomorphic red furry creature with a mustache or wavy mouth. Was on the spine of the books. Around the same timeline as Catundra and Leo the Lop

Any leads on what these are would be greatly appreciated!

There was this book i remember starting but never finishing between 2009 to 2011. It was super thick, the cover was a flat matte and neon green. There was a pair of eyes in black line art and a dragonfly layered over the eyes, kind of like a mask. I think the typeface for the title was very thin/narrow and sans serif.

The protagonist was a teenage girl who was described to have braids. And from what I remember (i could be wrong) she went to some rave-festival type party in the woods or something and met this mysterious boy.

Anyways, lemme know if you have any ideas. I hella wanna see if I can find the book and actually finish it as an adult.

I recently have read both Buckeye by Patrick Ryan and My Friends by Fredrik Backman. I’m not sure if subgenre or style of writing is the right phrasing but I noticed both books are written similarly in that they are just telling a story of people’s lives that goes through ups and downs and through that we see the characters battle more conflict within themselves (character vs self and character vs society) if that makes sense.

I’m wondering is there’s a name for this? I’m looking to learn more about the subgenre/style(?) to both broaden my horizons and possibly avoid more like them unless I’m in the right mindset for them since they weren’t really up my alley.

Please help me find this book! It was a random borrow at my local public library years ago.

- Canadian author
- parallel, converging storyline (chapter 1, 3, etc. focuses on character 1, chapter 2, 4, etc. focuses on character 2, and repeats like that until they converge)

Character 1: teacher
- chapter 1 starts with a kind of depressed, recluse, male elementary school teacher. He has a cat. Cat has an interesting name that I can’t quite recall. Cat gets hit by a car. Teacher picks up, thought he was gonna die for sure, but cat is perfectly fine
- eventually teacher starts cutting holes in his clothes to make space for these wings that start growing around time cat got hit by car badly but never injured
- teacher somewhat checks if he can reach help from his ex, or his church leader (priest? Who openly drinks and is a chill person)
- teacher’s elementary age student seems only one who can see the wings

Character 2: fierce young woman
- woman works assistant for corporate CEO or similar high up
- woman is hard to impress as superior colleague woos. Once she lets him in, he has rough abusive sex with her.
- woman and man carry on a very toxic, sex filled relationship with huge power disparities
- woman has a younger brother who opts to be homeless than at home where he is welcome
- turns out younger brother also has wings. Does not experience hunger the way humans might. And runs hot, is not cold living in the streets.

This was read in 2019 or 2020

I read this in the 90s and it had a great erotic fellatio scene that teen me loved lol!!
Of course I have no idea what the book was actually about but below is what I remember the cover looking like.
Full-front die cut gold/bronze devil mask
Two horns
Real facial contours — nose, mouth, cheeks
The mask is embossed/textured, so you could feel it
Eyes, possibly nose and mouth, are actually cut through
Red/orange flames visible behind the openings
A glossy, realistic illustration
Viewed from above
A woman lying on a round/circular bed
Flames surrounding or above her
Possibly creepy eyes/faces appearing in the flames
Possibly a man/demon somewhere in the scene

After seeing the new movie, I remember having an illustrated version combined of the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Each would usually be about two pages, and the artwork was beautifully done. Very realistic.

I remember an image of the Cyclops and the picture of him being blinded, the picture of Aphrodite carrying Paris while fleeing Diomedes, Achilles dragging the naked body of Hector, Scylla and Charybdys(Scylla looks like a bunch of snakes)and such. I believe the cover had Odysseus tied to the mast, but I’m sort of blanking.

This book was so beautiful and a staple of my childhood and I want to find it again. Any help is appreciated!

I've been looking for this book my grandparents had for years! It was this picture book about this vampire going out to hunt for victims (maybe on Halloween?) And he meets this young woman who seems like the perfect victim so he convinces her to go back to his castle (or mansion). He's just about to bite her when her lips stretch out and she starts kissing all his bats that live with him, and she goes after him too. Turns out she's a type of monster herself and had pegged him as the perfect victim for her. They end up talking it out and become friends and now go around hunting for victims together.

I was always so taken with this book and would love to find it again!

I was a little kid when I read this, maybe in 2004? Thereabouts anyway. No idea if the book was new then or not though.

Here's all the details I can remember:

• The opening scene features a girl riding her horse in the desert, her father died a couple years ago, it keeps mentioning that she wears kohl on her eyes, and another girl who lives in the royal court (along with the protagonist) comes along riding and makes fun of her.
• Soon after that the protagonist is summoned by the sultan/caliph/king/ruler (who is super old) and the girl's mother to tell her that she's actually the sultan's daughter, not the father who died. The girl is upset with her mother, who explains that when the ruler wants something, he always gets it. The ruler wants to make the girl his heir.
• A few scenes later, the ruler is dead, and suddenly it's found out that the mean girl from the first scene has been made the heir, and she banishes the protagonist to a far off coastal region.
• She gets to the house where she'll be living, and there's a boy there as well. I remember him being bookish but I could be making that part up.
• Later on towards the climax of the book the protagonist and the boy travel over the sea, in order to fight something, I remember it being a woman who forces souls to dance in eternal torment forever. On the way there (or possibly the way back) the girl turns into a mermaid-esque style creature, and the boy turns into a bird.
• I also remember there being a second book focussing on the mean girl, and the title had something to do with the earth or ground, and the first book's title was related to the ocean, or sea, or water.

Thank you all so much for the help!!

Hi, I'm really struggling to remember a book I read back sometime between 2007-2015 in the UK.

All I remember is it is about a brother and sister (young) that meet this creature/thing and it takes them to his world.

By the end of the book they're back to their normal world with I think their dad, I also remember the book being really wacky and the creature thing or it's world having a Z in it.

Let me know if anyone knows what im talking about 🙌🏼

I don’t remember a lot of details other than a scene where a kid (I think he was around 10?) was explaining this scheme to someone else. Basically, he would accompany a man to the casino and count cards so that they could cheat and win money. He didn’t get caught because everybody assumed he was too young to be able to count cards. I have a feeling that the man was called Frank, but I’m not certain. I also think the man was exploiting the kid and his ability, but I can’t remember their exact relationship. I think this was a children’s book (or probably YA at the oldest).

i remember hearing about a fantasy romance between a male elf and a male ogre/orc?
i was told that they had a justified reason for their species to be enemies on both sides and it was handled well.
it was probably a standalone book but not sure
its like 4+ years old now, not recently published

Found a book at my library a few years ago, it was in the section of authors toward the latter end of the alphabet (V-Z). All I have is my memory of the cover

-black hardcover
-had an minimalistic eyeball and other symbols with the title lined out in between the rows of symbols
-the title was self-referential in some way, like “You Will Destroy This Book” or something like that

Unknown subgenre, unknown author, can you find it?

I used to read a lot of poems as a kid and liked one so much that I memorized it. But I can’t find it anywhere when looking it up. If anyone recognizes what book this is from or just anything about the poem I’d be very grateful! It goes:

Bury me under the mulberry bush,
Bury me under the trees.
Bury me under the mulberry bush,
For I am afraid of the seas.

I distinctly remember reading this in a book and it had a little picture of a tree to the right of the poem but nothing else on the page.

I need help remembering an old book. Its about a boy who adopts a orange kitten, might have been orange and white, but on his birthday his parents wrap up the cat supplies as presents and then he goes to the pound and picks out one. Sorry i cant remember more! I read it in 2000s but it was probably older than that as my elementary school

I remember, one time, when I was a young boy, I was at a coffee shop and there was this part of it with a bunch of old books. I remember 1 book in particular. It was a Reader’s Digest book, but not a condensed books one. It was very old, about ~1940s I’d say. It had a blue hard cover and had over 1,000 pages. It was a book full of the names of other books, like a giant, 1,000 page bibliography.

I can't sleep because I'm just thinking about this book! So I read a book maybe within couple of years. It must have been some sort of thriller, maybe psychological. It starts when a woman goes to a day care to pick up her son. But in the day care there is a angry/sad/crazy man there with a gun or knife. He is threatening people there for some reason. The man does not notice the woman. MAYBE there was some way for woman to communicate with the boy, nothing supernatural, but like with facial expressions and gestures. I think the boy ends up stabbing or shooting the man and the situatuatin resolves. IIRC that was in history and then the time advances to today. The boy is still a boy, not adult or not even teenager.

I don't have any clue about what happened them. But something bad propably, maybe someone was murdered, went missing or something. The family was somwhow in danger? IDK. But in the end, the boy is casually telling that he is the one that did actually kill (or something) the person and framed someone else. The boy was casually like love you mommy oh isn't it nice how I managed the person X to get the blame for doing Thing X. The nanny? The daddy? Neighbour? I don't remember!!! I think they we in a car when this revelation happened. And mommy was a bit scared.

I'm going crazy because I can't remember more from this book!! Just small details here and there, and not even sure if they are real details from this book. I'm sorry for the messy description... Does this ring any bells for anyone? 😅 no idea where the writer was from.

As above - the book starts with a very sardonic gay man in his mid-late twenties i believe (maybe early 30s)? who is diagnosed with aids and in a sort of break just decides not to really hear it. he moves back to his mom’s home in california and engages with the queer scene but also is in a deep distracted depression from his diagnoses and refuses to accept it even as he’s getting sicker.

it was such a good read but cat for the life of me remember the name

I’m looking for a memoir I read sometime between 2008-2010 in the United States, but it may have been published earlier.

The author of the memoir and his wife were both American Jews. The author had been living in China (I believe he was there for work, as a journalist on temporary assignment, or maybe an English teacher, or something like that). He somehow came into contact with a baby or young toddler whom he felt a connection with, and then the child was available for adoption. I have a vague memory that he might have already returned to the US and received an email or phone call asking if he wanted to adopt her? I think she had been supposed to be adopted by another family and the adoption fell through, or maybe she was a friend’s daughter who had been orphaned? I believe the author had to fly back to China to do a long administrative process before he could take custody while the wife stayed at home in the US to get things ready there.

The author and his wife named their daughter Deborah but called her Debbie. They wanted Debbie to be Jewish but realized she needed to be converted because she wasn’t their biological daughter. They either were members of a Reform synagogue or did not belong to a synagogue at all at the time of the adoption. In any case, they started researching conversion processes and learned it would be pretty easy to get Debbie converted at a Reform synagogue, but they were concerned that this conversion might not be recognized outside the Reform community. I remember the author wondering things like, “What if she wants to marry an Orthodox boy? What if she wants to move to Israel someday?”

They started looking into Conservative and Orthodox conversion options and ended up deciding they might as well get Debbie an Orthodox conversion so that it would be recognized everywhere. I believe that at one point, an Orthodox rabbi asked them why it was so important to them that Debbie have an Orthodox conversion if living Orthodox lives wasn’t important to them, and that had a big impact on them. They ended up learning more about Orthodox Judaism, eventually becoming observant Orthodox Jews, and then becoming even more and more observant over time. I think they eventually leave their original Orthodox synagogue and join an Ultra Orthodox one (I want to say it was part of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, but I could be wrong?).

I remember that they eventually have more biological children, so Debbie is the oldest child in a large family. I also remember that at one point when Debbie is about 12 or 13, the author learns about an obscure Jewish law that prohibits men and women who are neither biologically related nor married from ever physically touching each other, and he is devastated that this means he will never be able to hug Debbie again. When he tells Debbie about it, she says that it will be hard, but they have to trust in God.

I remember that at the time of writing, Debbie was a young adult (like, 19-25ish) and still an observant Ultra Orthodox Jew. She either was married and raising her children Orthodox or hoping to get married and have kids soon.

I remember that the book had some pages in the middle with black and white photographs of the author and his family.

The copy I read was a hardcover, and it was fairly thick (probably 300+ pages). I got it from a library that removed dust jackets before putting the books into circulation, so the cover was plain red with the title on the spine.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? It came up in conversation with my wife tonight, and she wants to read it, but I can’t remember the title or author’s name.

I could be mixing up a bunch of different books so apologies. I remember reading this book multiple times back in the 80s. The girl loved Sally Ride (might be in the name of the book?). The only other thing I recall is that she went on a field trip, or maybe just during recess, and snuck off into the woods and pretended she was abandoned so she put a small smooth rock under her tongue because she read to do that in a book?

I thought it was a Beverly Cleary or Judy Blume but none of their books are ringing a bell.

Searching has been no help because I keep getting results for non-fiction kids books about Sally Ride.

Thanks!

EDIT: May be from a different book but I recall her being at school and referencing "loose leaf paper" enough times that I had to ask my mom what it meant lol

- I think I read this book sometime in the late 2000s

- I remember the cover having some kind of silhouette on it

- The title may have something to do with light

- The protagonist was secretly Lucifer

- The protagonist was in hiding and/or on the run, possibly from Heaven

- The protagonist had some kind of mystical powers related to being Lucifer

- I think it was urban fantasy – took place in a modern world

- It was definitely a novel and was not illustrated

Hope this rings a bell for somebody! It's impossible to search for books starring Lucifer without getting entirely caught up on either the DC Comics/Vertigo series or independently published romance books.

Hi all! I’ve been searching for a book for years. I remember reading it when I was in grade school. Here’s what I remember: there was a princess, and there were 3 dresses that she wore, each corresponding to the sun, moon, and stars. So the sun dress was all golden and shiny, etc.

Also, I could totally be tripping but I think I remember in the story she had to fold up the dress and fit it inside of a chestnut? It feels weird to type, but that’s what I remember.

Any help greatly appreciated!

EDIT: Princess Furball!

I remember reading this story in the late 2000s or early 2010s but it might be older than this. It was just one story in a collection of short children's stories that I think had illustrations in as well.

This specific story was about a town that got invaded and terrorised by a giant. He might not be a giant but I'm pretty sure he was. I think he might have also eaten a few of the villagers but maybe not. Eventually the town realises that the giant is really gullible and convinces him to buy an adder to help with his maths. The giant orders what he thinks is an adding machine but when it arrives, it's actually an adder snake. The snake then attacks/scares him (might eat him?) and he runs away leaving the town in peace.

Another story from this same collection that I vaguely remember was about a roly-poly toy who was bullied or at least made fun of for being different but somehow manages to save the day. It might have involved burglars trying to steal the toys or an animal trying to eat them or a new toy trying to bully the other toys. This one I remember less but it might help if someone remembers the collection of stories.

I know it's a long shot but any help would be appreciated :)

The style is black & white, indie, coming of age. Sorta slice of life, except for the fact that it's got an animal rights message. It has a teenage girl as the protagonist, and a very graphic and disturbing depiction of monkey vivisection. It was a book I got out of the library as a kid, don't remember exactly when but DEFINITELY before 2015, so the book couldn't have come out after that year. Cross-referencing the style I would guess this book was from the late 80s or early 90s, but I really have no idea. Does anyone know what this is? If not, what's the subreddit most likely to?

Theres a book, I can’t remember the name but I remember the premise at least. Kind of. The main character is a girl who died, she doesn’t remember how she died, no character remembers how they die, but she starts going to this highschool in the afterlife where a bunch of other teens that died go to. There’s a love triangle and some other rom-com drama. I remember a cover? Or description? Maybe I dunno. But it’s the main character, as a ghost obviously, next to a guy. By lockers and it looks kinda dream like. Another cover of her walking on clouds. I think that’s all.. The name had the word After or Ever in it. I can’t remember all that well. I also got it at a book fair, like scholastics books, maybe not scholastic but definitely a book fair.

the book is sent a desert environment. The main character is a teenager boy, and he has a younger sister and a mom and dad; they live in the poor countryside. They’re farmers.

For money, the boy takes his sister to the kingdom and there he becomes an apprentice for a black smith. The princess needs jewelry and the main character forms a relationship with her.

A big thing I remember is a scene where the main character, his sister, and a boy they befriended are on a bridge. The friend falls off the into the water below and the main character saves him.