Category Archives: Teen

359A: 90’s Satanic Panic Teen Romance

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This was most likely purchased from a Scholastic Book Fair in the mid to late 90s. I don’t remember the title but I think the cover was dark blue with an image on the front but I can’t remember what of. Something vague like two shadows or a book with a pentagram on it. It is a short book. Probably around 150 pages. Could be Middle Grade or Young Adult.
Details I’m pretty sure of: The story was about a teen girl who moves to a new town and gets a crush on a dark, mysterious guy. He brings her into a group of friends that seem cool and goth but end up being a satanic cult that sacrifices a cat in a dark cave. She is eventually saved by a love interest.
Details I’m unsure of: Vaguely supernatural elements as in things happen that seem magical but may not be. I think there is a scene where she escapes through the basement of a restaurant. Towards the end we learn that she moved to this town because her parents died and the parent’s dying was orchestrated by the cult. Maybe the leader of the cult is revealed to be The Devil. Maybe because we see flames in his eyes or some other devilish detail. There might be drugs involved. There might be an element where the protagonist thinks people have been killed but then they are found alive.
Thank you for the help! This has been bothering me for YEARS.

358W: Letter Seems to Lead to Boyfriend Stealer’s Death (But Doesn’t)

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I don't recall the tile or author. I purchased the book via Scholastic books around 1985 in Toronto, Canada (from school).

Cover: A blond girl (I don't remember what she was wearing)

Synopsis: One summer, the blond girl visits her cousin who lives in another city (their mothers are sisters). The Christmas before, the blond girl visited her cousin. Her cousin had a boyfriend but she was sure another girl was trying to steal him away. So the blond girl and cousin want to get back at her. They write her secret admirer love letters asking her to meet somewhere. The "boyfriend stealer" drives out that night but dies in a car crash. The blond girl and cousin are distraught with guilt. That summer, the cousin tells the blond girl that she thinks the boyfriend stealer is haunting her. Strange things have been happening lately. Anyway, we find out that the strange events were due to the new gardener who loved the boyfriend stealer. He knew about the letter and blamed them for her death. But the boyfriend stealer thought the secret admirer letters were coming from the gardener, who would stalk her, so she ignored them. The night of the crash she was actually on her way to visit her own boyfriend. She never intended to steal the blond girl's cousin's boyfriend. They were only friends. Phewph! Very long, I'm sorry, but I'm hoping you could help me find this book.

358T: Boy Coming of Age With the Edsel

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I’m hoping you can help me with the name and author of a book I started reading in 1996/97 as a teenager. I was about 1/4 of the way through it (it was a very large book if I recall) and was quite enjoying it…until my mother confiscated it because it wasn’t “church approved” 🙄 It was the story of a young boy in the 50’s. On the cover was a picture of an Edsel. The story sort of centralized on that car, and I *think* the father worked at the Edsel factory. There were a lot of coming of age themes, and I’ve never forgotten that book and wish to finish it now that I have my own teenagers. The author was a male, and he had multiple other books that I cannot remember either.

358N: Introspective Loner Girl and Her Rebellious Loner Boyfriend

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I’m having trouble finding a book I read years ago. I read it when I was a teenager so I assume it is a YA book but the characters came across as mature. It is at the minimum a duology but it could be a trilogy or more but I just never read past the first two books of the series. The second book I read when I was around 16 and it did not feel childish in any way.
Both books were written from the perspective of a girl who volunteers/works at a rest home or with elderly people. I remember the girl being a very introspective, bit of a loner type character who felt alienated from her peers to a certain extent. The male protagonist who is her love interest I believe may have been called Angus, but not 100% sure on this. He was a rebellious, mysterious type of character who may also have been a bit of a loner. In the second book, someone in the rest home dies which she has some trouble with and also their relationship ends as I think she may go away to college/university for the second book whereas she was in high school for the first book. The second-book is her former life falling apart to some extent and her having to grapple with feelings of depression, alienation.
The first book I read circa 2001-2005 and the second book I read circa 2006. The books did not feel at all dated when I read them. I read both books in New Zealand but I don’t believe the books were set in New Zealand. I have a feeling they were set in the United States as I remember vaguely that there was mention of college which is not a term we use in New Zealand. The books are completely realistic, with absolutely no elements of fantasy. I’m pretty sure the author is a female.

357N: Boy Commits Suicide Because Of Parent’s Abuse After Getting Best Girl Friend Pregnant

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I need help finding a book I read in high-school. The details I remember are:
The lead was female high-school aged. The book was based in Australia, she was good/best friends with a boy and I think they would catch up at a particular spot like a barn. I think he ends up going to private school and is good at sports or swimming. His mother’s meek and his dad is aggressive. They end up having sex and then I think the abuse from his father becomes too much and he kills himself. The girl ends up pregnant and her grandmother tried to help her by giving her an awful drink (think I remember it being described as tasting like Marmite) but it doesn’t work. She has the baby and the boy’s parents find out and the boy’s mother tries to help her somehow. I think they all end up in Sydney. I can’t remember how it ends. For some reason the name Sophie keeps popping in to my head but I don’t remember if that was an author or one of the characters or nothing.
Let me know if you think of anything it could be.

357A: Teens in a mental (?) hospital, one named Bonnie, one called Zero

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This book was probably published in the 70’s. Story of teens in a mental (?) hospital working with a new (?) young doctor trying to connect with them. One character is named Bonnie and she is mute or doesn’t interact with people but likes when the doctor (?) sings “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” so he starts to change the words and sings things like, “My Bonnie Lies Over the Pizza”, etc. Character called Zero was, I think, male, and I think, dies at the end. It was a small paperback size book with a hardcover that I read in the 80’s from my public library. I believe the cover was white.

356K: Dead Bird Virus causes Zombie Like Creatures

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I am looking for a book, possibly teen horror fiction that I read back between 1980-1983. The premise was a girl living with aunt/mom in a coastal town when a virus hits. She notices dead birds around the town and people start disappearing. The virus causes the infected to seek out the dark and they pass the virus by holding the person down and breathing into their mouth. Her family and friends become infected and she is left with a bunch of teen survivors who slowly get picked off. She ends up in an old house with a boy. I can’t remember the ending.

352C: High School French Textbook From 60s

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I’m looking for a high school teaching French text probably published during the first half of the 60’s. I remember it as having a plain teal cover and being entirely black and white. It contained paragraphs to translate that were folk stories. The sunken city of Ys- you can still hear the bells beneath the waves- the storks of Alsace. I lost it in a flood.