Category Archives: 1990s-

378R: Surreal Nautical Quest for Strange Creature

Leave a reply

I’m looking for the title of a picture book that I read as a child in the mid-1990s. I believe the book was written in the 1980s or 90s, though it could also be from the 70s. I don’t remember any part of the title. It was a large-format hardcover edition.

It features illustrations with a watercolor style and a brightly colored, somewhat flat, surreal aesthetic with greatly exaggerated proportions. Its protagonist is an explorer who is dressed in a blue 19th-century naval outfit and sailing a large (and very tall) ship by himself.

He is searching for a rare creature that has some giraffe-like features and eats bananas, and on every page you can see that this creature is following him just out of sight. During his exploration, the protagonist meets several huge, frightening monsters, one of which I seem to recall was named the “purple lumpy thumpet”.

When the explorer finally finds his creature, it is revealed that it has many babies, and also that the monsters he encountered earlier were all friendly. All characters then have a picnic together on an island.

As a young child I read this book over and over again, captivated by its unique blend of unsettling, dreamlike  visuals and mischievous, lighthearted storytelling. I have now been searching for its title for nearly a decade with no luck, and just found out about this service.

378P: Fantasy World, Possibly Audio Book

Leave a reply

Fantasy novel: man transported from his world to new world, desert merchants, secretly intelligent lizard mounts, magical deception, return to own world not possible

Genre: Fantasy (possibly independently published or audio-original)

Publication date: Likely within the last 15 years (2008–2023)
Plot summary & memorable details:
I’m trying to identify a fantasy novel (which I most likely encountered as an audiobook) set primarily in a (sometimes desert-like) fantasy world. The main character, originally from his own world (not Earth), faces trouble early on from a powerful noble, possibly a count or baron. He might have financial troubles, or so. The story in his original world continues for some time, even after he is transported to this new world and I seem to remember someone who either transported him there or is otherwise important to this event – like a magician, warlock, or so, but someone influential. I do not remember the exact reason why this transport occurred, possibly to get rid of the main character. The setting is medieval fantasy, not our earth or modern times.

One of the first scenes I remember as him getting his bearings in the desert and meeting a figure, possibly a djinn or something of this kind, although this is quite fuzzy in my memory. 

Early in the story, he meets desert merchants riding unusual, lizard-like mounts who help im traverse a desert, maybe in exchange for work or help. Later, the merchants are attacked and killed in the desert. To one merchant’s horror, these mounts reveal themselves as intelligent, malevolent, and capable of speech—secretly allowing themselves to be used as mounts to further their hidden agenda (though this wasn’t necessarily central to the main plot).

The protagonist participates in a war or conflict between two factions or kingdoms, one notably wealthy—possibly merchant-controlled. He also travels with a female companion, I believe. Toward the story’s end, another character pretends to help them return to their/his home world using magic but instead puts them to sleep, later admitting he either lacked the power or knowledge to actually teleport them. In the end, I think they accept not being able to return.

I’m not sure if it is a series or not, and I think I have listened to it as an audio book on either audible or youtube – though having looked through my audible library, it must have been on youtube.
I tried AI search like ChatGPT or Perplexity, but they couldn’t find anything on the web.

Thanks!

378M: Scary Story – Mr. Pepper, the stuttering phantom with a sewing machine

Leave a reply

It was a story in a short stories book I read in the mid-1990s. A person describes being woken in the middle of the night by a dark figure named Mr. Pepper who stutters and sews black clods of dirt or shadow using the sewing machine. He also says something to the person who is describing the scene when he/she wakes up like, ” I l-l-like you.”

378L: Nausea painting, maybe a treasure map

2 Replies

I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years to no avail.

In 1991 or 1992, my sixth grade reading teacher recommended this book in an attempt to get me to not read Stephen King books. Sadly, I don’t remember a lot of the plot, and I’m reluctant to mention details that could have been in other books.

I remember a few things for sure (hopefully). It was a story involving two boys, and one had or saw a painting called “Nausea,” which we later discovered meant “Gold in the North Sea” (N Au Sea). I thiiiiiink there was a treasure map in the painting. And right around now my memory is very inadequate….. I think the map may have led to Wood Islands in Canada, but I may have looked that up in The World Book at the time, and it may be unrelated to the book…

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

378J: Scary Story – Mr. Pepper, the stuttering phantom with a sewing machine

1 Reply

It was a story in a short stories book I read in the mid-1990s. A person describes being woken in the middle of the night by a dark figure named Mr. Pepper who stutters and sews black clods of dirt or shadow using the sewing machine. He also says something to the person who is describing the scene when he/she wakes up like, ” I l-l-like you.”

378H: The treasure map in a painting

1 Reply

I have been trying to remember the name of this book for years to no avail.

In 1991 or 1992, my sixth grade reading teacher recommended this book in an attempt to get me to not read Stephen King books. Sadly, I don’t remember a lot of the plot, and I’m reluctant to mention details that could have been in other books.

I remember a few things for sure (hopefully). It was a story involving two boys, and one had or saw a painting called “Nausea,” which we later discovered meant “Gold in the North Sea” (N Au Sea). I thiiiiiink there was a treasure map in the painting. And right around now my memory is very inadequate….. I think the map may have led to Wood Islands in Canada, but I may have looked that up in The World Book at the time, and it may be unrelated to the book…

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

378C: The Friendly Monsters (Found!)

3 Replies

I’m looking for the title of a picture book that I read as a child in the mid-1990s. I believe the book was written in the 1980s or 90s, though it could also be from the 70s. I don’t remember any part of the title. It was a large-format hardcover edition.

It features illustrations with a watercolor style and a brightly colored, somewhat flat, surreal aesthetic with greatly exaggerated proportions. Its protagonist is an explorer who is dressed in a blue 19th-century naval outfit and sailing a large (and very tall) ship by himself.

He is searching for a rare creature that has some giraffe-like features and eats bananas, and on every page you can see that this creature is following him just out of sight. During his exploration, the protagonist meets several huge, frightening monsters, one of which I seem to recall was named the “purple lumpy thumpet”.

When the explorer finally finds his creature, it is revealed that it has many babies, and also that the monsters he encountered earlier were all friendly. All characters then have a picnic together on an island.

As a young child I read this book over and over again, captivated by its unique blend of unsettling, dreamlike visuals and mischievous, lighthearted storytelling. I have now been searching for its title for nearly a decade with no luck, and just found out about this service.

377S: Animal beggars who were at the bottom of a well

Leave a reply

There’s a book that I had as a child that my mother hated reading to me – I was born in 1987, we had this book before I turned 10. It was a children’s book, illustrated, it was about animal beggars with different kinds of injuries (one missing legs, one blind – war wounds I think), I think one of the animals was a frog. They lived (or hid?) in the bottom of the well and meat was thrown down to them. I’m sorry that I don’t remember much more of about this book.

377L: The White Blob From The Moon

1 Reply

Hi there! I’m seeking Stump the Bookseller’s help in finding a lost book from my childhood. It was about a white, blobby creature that came down to the earth from the moon and had adventures. This book was available in the Huntingdon Valley Public library in the Philadelphia area in the 90s (I’ve looked there and asked the librarians without success) but I’m sure it was not self-published. It was a picture book or perhaps an early-reader chapter book (I believe it was portrait orientation) and I think it was part of a series. It was illustrated–if not fully illustrated–on the interior. It was not new in the 90s–it had a slightly vintage feel–perhaps 60s, 70s, or 80s. The art style was graphic and cartoony–more akin to the Space Case books by Edward Marshall than something illustrative like Moornhorse by Mary Pope Osborne (and no, it’s not either of these–It’s also not Moon Man by Tomi Ungerer, the Matthew Looney series, or Dmitri the Astronaut by Jon Agee.) There were themes of loneliness–perhaps the moon creature came down to earth to make friends? It’s possible he was not from the moon but rather a different planet. I believe the background color of the cover was black. It’s possible that this unsolved query is describing the same book: http://w1.loganberrybooks.com/stumpthebookseller/145x-moon-creatures/. [EDIT: I now believe this is a book in the Moonbird series called The Unicorn and Witch. I don’t think it’s the book I’m looking for, though.] My mom remembers the moon creature as having had a pear-shaped body, maybe a bit of neck, and then an oval or round head, whereas I more clearly remember a white horse or perhaps unicorn. There could have been a little boy protagonist too, but I don’t remember clearly.