The book I’m after was a spooky children’s book picked up at a R.I.F. book fair in the early 80s. It was from a UK line of books and I believe was titled, simply, “UFOs.” It was perfectly square, tiny (a bit larger than a piece of toast), softcover, short (maybe 24 pages or less), and had realistic and creepy paintings of supposedly true UFO case files. Lots of art, light text. The cover was entirely midnight blue, and either had no art at all, or perhaps just a small clip of art from within, probably a “grey” alien face if anything. I had another book from the line that I believe was called “Dinosaurs,” and followed the same format, but had a vivid green cover. It was definitely an entire line of small books. Oh, and I remember the UFO book was the first place I ever heard of the Men in Black, though they seemed a lot creepier in the book than in the movie. I think the entry on their mysterious origins (it was acknowledged no one knew if they were extraterrestrial or government agents) mentioned one of them putting his fingers in a cup of coffee as if he didn’t understand it. Or something like that!
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
Could this be in the same series as C.B. Colby’s Strangely Enough? Your description of the UFOs sounds a lot like the 70s version of this cover. Te version I read had both ghost stories and UFO encounters.
Hmm, I don’t think so! I looked up Strangely Enough on Amazon and my impression on skimming the reviews is that it was a touch more advanced than the book I’m thinking of, which I feel had only a paragraph or two, tops, to accompany each lavishly painted page.
Also, Strangely Enough seems to have normal, rectangular dimensions, not the square format of the book I’m remembering. (aside: it occurs to me it might have been slightly rectangular, but if so, only just; it was either precisely a square or almost a square)
That said, Strangely Enough still sounds creepy and cool. I may have to nab a copy 🙂
WorldCat lists two pre-early-1980s juvenile nonfiction books with “UFOs” in the title and with circa 24-36 pages, so perhaps it’s one of these:
Title: All about UFO’s /
Author(s): Wilding-White, Theodore Mather.
Gatland, Kenneth ; (Kenneth William)
Publication: London : Usborne,
Year: 1978, 1977
Description: 32 pages : (chiefly) illustrations (chiefly color)., 3 maps (chiefly color), 1 form ; 28 cm.
Language: English
Series: The world of the unknown
or
Title: Exploring UFOs /
Author(s): Rutland, Jonathan.
Cohen, Katie.
Full, Roger.
Publication: London : N.C.L.S.,
Year: 1979
Description: 24 pages : color illustrations ; 23 cm.
Language: English
Series: Kingfisher explorer books
By a strange and wonderful turn of fortune, I have found the book!
It is, indeed, simply titled UFOs, and was written by Bob Rickard and illustrated by Geoff Taylor.
Nutmeg Press, 1979
https://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Bob-Rickard/dp/B000EPNWQU