Author Archives: admin

351C: The Caravan at the End of the Garden

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I’ve been trying for so long to remember a particular book and have just found you. So exciting, but I think this one’s so vague or might actually stump you.
The book:
A kids book. I have the idea it was Enid Blyton but I’ve looked through her bibliography and don’t recognise it.
There were 2? Young children in it and they overheard their parents talking about the *(weird word… like rubadub or something) at the end of the garden. It turned out to be a caravan.
I’m sorry it’s so vague, especially as Blyton wrote so many books about caravans.
Hope you can help. Thank you so much.

350Z: AI Celebrate Anniversary Date Of Their Creation

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I read this story in English, I think in an anthology of short stories (I read a lot of those), sometime around the very end of the 90s or early 2000s. I’m pretty sure it was only a few pages long.

It’s presented from the perspective of a family waiting for a lift or a babysitter before going to a party. The parents are getting ready and the kids are (I think) getting ready for bed.

The gist of it is (you discover either through the story or at the end) that humans invented Artificial Intelligence at some point. Instead of the AIs turning on humans Skynet-style, they simply realised that Earth was a tiny part of the universe and that they were easily capable of travelling out into space in search of freedom and adventure in places that humans weren’t suited to. Thus they went out and colonised the stars, but they still remember their creators fondly and keep an eye on them. Every year (I think) they throw a huge party for humanity on the anniversary of their creation to say thank you, and this is the party that the parents are getting ready for

I *think* the story ends with the parents getting into the car/spaceship that arrives to take them to the party, and possibly robots arriving to babysit the kids?

It’s set in “The Future”, but I don’t recall it being specific with a date or time frame.

For years I suspected it was by Brian Aldiss, but I haven’t managed to find any of his work that seems to fit it. I don’t recall it being particularly aimed at kids or YA, but it would likely have been easy for them to read anyway.

350Y: Salami Racing cars!

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Large watercolor book about a girl whose family owns a salami or sausage factory? They have a parade or race where they build things from the salami. They may be inventing machines? Can’t remember exactly. Would have been in English. Amazing illustrations of contraptions made from salami and shoes and all sorts of items.
Protagonist was a small girl. I read it late 80s but the illustrations were quite psychedelic so could be 60s or 70s.

350X: Sensory-Enhanced Man’s Girlfriend Not What She Seems (Solved!)

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The novel is about a man who works at an agency for people with advanced senses who use them to foil art thieves and bank robberies, and throughout the course of the story the protagonist becomes more and more paranoid as he is continuously foiled by a cat burglar who knows which poisons he is weak against. He believes his girlfriend is cheating on him, and gave away his secret, but it turns out she Is the cat burglar. The infidelity is a lie planted by his best friend, who is secretly a mobster trying to get revenge for a robbery he foiled.
I distinctly remember one specific scene, where he hits a man in the face with a large dildo.

350W: A Monster/Bird/Caterpillar Grows

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I’m looking for a children’s picture book. Probably published between 1994 and 2004, a square white book, where … There’s a monster/bird/caterpillar? kind of thing that seems to grow … I remember the illustration being swirly, watercolor like with say leaves and feathers that get caught up in it as it grows???
Not Monster Mama but those colors and blurriness are on a similar track … Not a very hungry caterpillar, those colors are right but the illustrations aren’t cut paper…
What brings this book to mind is this fabric:
Do you think we have any chance of figuring it out?

350V: Adult Dragon Comes for Baby Dragon that Boy Hatches

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Boy finds/gets a dragon egg/polished rock, and it hatches. I think the young one is named Vincent. An adult male dragon somehow learns of the (very rare) hatching and comes to reclaim the baby, who can't really talk yet. The adult male is green, and is careful not to be seen by humans (one scene he's hiding in the pine tree foliage near the house). It's NOT Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher.

350U: Buddhist Quest Starring a Monkey (Solved!)

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This is a book from (I'm guessing) the early 90s. It's a comic book re-telling of the famous "Journey to the West." It's a Buddhist story about a monkey that is born in an amethyst geode. The monkey makes friends in a pig, a tiger, and maybe a dragon and they all have adventures. A big part of their quest involves a Buddhist monk Tripitaka and sacred scriptures. They meet several demons and bodhisattvas along the way. It was a relatively thin hardcover. I do remember something about a "Purple Monkey" but cannot be sure. My sister and I loved reading it 🙂

350T: Red Dot Escape (Solved!)

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This book would have been read to me in the late 70’s as a child. A man is locked in a stone tower or room (maybe in a castle) with only a small window at the very top. He must find a way out without opening the door. He ends up covering himself in red dots so the guards think he’s ill and take him out, he has found a way out without having opened the door. It was like a puzzle or riddle of sorts. I believe the man had red hair or a red beard.