Author Archives: admin

359F: Early 90’s Humorous Horror Children’s Book

I imagine this will be one of the more difficult ones for you simply due to my lack of information. This was a childhood book of mine that had to have been published in the late 80’s-early 90’s.  It was a series of 10-12 short stories accompanied by cartoon-ish illustrations focused around a punk kid getting into all sorts of spooky and weird situations.   Unfortunately, at the time I couldn’t read, so all I have are memories of the illustrations and some themes of one or two of the stories. The illustration of the kid was the early 90’s typical baggy jeans, backwards ball cap, long (I think) blonde hair. The cover of the book was of this kid spray painting some graffiti on a brick wall. I think whatever he was spray painting was the title of the book.
A few of the memories I have of the stories include one where the kid gets sucked down a drain and another where the kid has no bones. I’m pretty sure there were a few stories where he encounters monsters as well.
Thanks for your help! My brother and I have spent years trying to find this book!

359E: Spooky Children’s Book (Solved!)

I remember finding this in my elementary school library and haven’t found it since. I remember that its a picture book about a man who I think is down on his luck and he hears about an offer to stay at a haunted castle for a night and win money or something. I think I remember that he was pretty like chill through the whole night? And had like bread and cheese, and a horse or mule? I absolutely loved this book and I’ve been thinking about it on and off for several years at this point and I miss it.

359D: Fiction, long-lost sisters with celebrity dad, Ireland/USA

This is a contemporary realistic fiction book. A celebrity man dies and is on the news, and somehow his daughter in the USA finds out he has another daughter in Ireland, or vice versa. The sisters meet. The Irish sister has a cheating husband who eventually seduces the American sister. The American sister later has a summer fling with a 17-year old, the ex-boyfriend of her niece (or something like that). I read it in 2010 and am guessing it was less than 10 years old at the time. The book is light green (or at least, the version I read was). I have a picture of me reading it, but when zoomed in it is way too grainy to decipher any info at all.

359B: Ghost Themed Activity Book (Maybe Disney?)

There’s a book that I got some time around 1993. It’s a light-hearted ghost themed activity/picture book. One important detail is that there were hidden messages in the book that one could read via the included red decoder that you’d hold up to your eye. It was essentially a red translucent film.
The book was mostly illustrations, maybe with some jokes and mazes thrown in.
The book MAY be a Disney publication as I associate it with Disney. But, as my brother pointed out, that might be because I had the book with me while we were on our trip to Disney in the early 90s. Still, it’s also possible that we got the book while at Disney World.

359A: 90’s Satanic Panic Teen Romance

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.

358Z: Ghost book about a brother and sister with a good twist ending

The book is about this brother and sister that wake up in their beds and discover they have woken up in their house but older looking without anyone able to see or hear them. They go on to help these ghosts living in their house against their evil aunt, who can occasionally sense the main characters. I remember a small joke about the little brother not knowing what a minor was and mistook it for a miner in an inheritance letter or something. In the end (spoilers) it is discovered that the main characters were ghosts all along and died falling into a frozen lake together and the Evil Aunt just liked vintage furniture.
Also posted onto reddit here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/orc7yv/ghost_story_book_with_a_good_twist_at_the_end/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

358Y: Stuff That Makes Kids Cranky


Looking for a fairly recent children’s book. It is an oversized, paperback, picture book with some text. It is probably about 10-20 pages long. I read this to my daughter when she was young, probably around 2009-2012. It may have been published earlier. I recall the cover being yellowy-orange. It has very vibrant full-color illustrations that cover the entire pages. It’s a book about things you don’t like or want to do as a kid and being cranky/grumpy. I remember a few of the illustrations and words. There is reference to having to “pick up your room” and there is an illustration that show a boy picking up a room in his hand. There is reference to mom buying grown-up cereal with ingredients like sticks and sawdust instead of kid cereal. There is another illustration with a very long chore list rolled out like a scroll. There are also references to brother and grandma. It might be a scholastic book. That’s all I remember.

358X: Dystopian YA novel read around 2004 (not Brave New World)

The book focuses on multiple points of view from different characters, but one character that stuck out specifically was a “drone” or something like that and he wasn’t supposed to have feelings but eventually does and becomes very depressed at the life he leads and the world he lives in and *trigger warning* commits suicide. I distinctly remember a quote by the “drone” and he broke a bottle or something and “digs and digs into his wrist until he dies”. Morbid but a distinct memory. This quote is the last part of the chapter if that helps at all? It was a chapter book and may have had a blue cover but I can’t totally remember.