Category Archives: 1990s-

363I: Making Red Candles for Winter

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I’m a librarian, and here’s how the patron described the book she remembers:
This would have been in the early to mid 90s. I recall a children’s book that described preparation for winter and the most vivid thing I remember was candle making with red berries. I think it was set in New England and possibly discussed pilgrims??
The candle making method was hand dipping these red candles for winter.
Very vivid pictures, deep saturated colors, simple illustrations, not too much detail, more landscape focused.

(Someone has suggested Tomie DePaola’s An Early American Christmas, but that’s not it.)

363H: Magic Mirror Leads to Another World

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I’m hoping that you can help me, I’ve been up for hours googling all the details I can remember about a book that I read and loved in 7th grade. I read this book in 2013 and I believe it was a fairly new book that the time. It may have had a second book in the series but I don’t know for sure.
I recall that the main character was a middle school or perhaps elementary school boy. I think I remember him going into a suspicious shop and noticing something odd about a mirror. Somehow he becomes in possession of this mirror. 
He discovers that the mirror is a portal that he can crawl through to get to another world. In this world I recall a forest, and maybe a fairy-like companion. In this world there is some sort of crisis taking place. I recall several instances of the boy narrowly escaping the mirror after being chased by some kind of monster. I think the boy kept the mirror in his closet. 
I can almost picture the cover of the book too. I can see lots of purple and black, and maybe some swirling style designs around the perimeter. And an illustration of the boy crouching looking into the mirror. 

363G: College Romance Where Girl Has Gift to Know Soulmate

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This is a college or sports romance. Main character named Brooklyn? Transfers to New college with bff. Meets love interest after football game. Instantly falls in love because family has a gift to know their soulmate when they find them. Not caveman series. I read it in 2014 on Kindle. She’s poor and he spoils her. I remember he got hers uggs in the book.

363F: Virtual Soldier Training Game

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So I read this book more than likely between the years 2008-2014. The book is about a world where kids are forced to train or play a virtual “game” that determines their aptitude to be a soldier. I think the main character is a girl that lives in an apartment that’s in bad condition. If I remember correctly, they go to a mall of some sort to access this combat game. I wish I could remember more but that’s all I know.

363E: Girl Cooks Jam With Grandma/Mother

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I don’t remember many details, but when I was a child, I had a book about a girl and her mother or her grandma (can’t quite remember). I had the book around 1994 and it didn’t seem very old. It had some text but mostly pictures. The illustrations were very realistic (not cartoon type, etc). The art style reminds me of an old vintage “Pears” ad. The girl wore an old style dress and in parts, a pinny/apron. I think the story was about things the two of them did together, like cooking. On one page, I remember they made strawberry or raspberry jam and put it in jars and cover the top of the jars with cloth. It might have even included the recipe. And on another page, there is a heap of bubbles and within each bubble is a picture of the girl doing things she has done through the book; making the jam, etc.

Very vague. Not sure anyone out there will know what book I’m talking about with so little to go off but worth a try.

363A: Little Match Girl Gets Pennies From Heaven

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I have been searching for a children’s book since I saw it in a catalog when I was expecting my second child in 1996.  The story is very similar to the Little Match Girl, but I loved it because instead of dying, pennies literally rain down on the girl and she does not die.  I ran into an employee of a book store several years later and she said she had the book as a child and it was titled “Pennies from Heaven”.  I have not been able to locate this book by the possible title or the description of the story.  Thanks for your help!

362W: Princess Escapes Maze, Slays Dragon

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Looking for a fantasy book probably published before 1995, with a female protagonist, some form of princess I think. Early in the book she is caught in some sort of maze and manages to get out with some sort of dimensional (vorpal) sword? But the thing I definitely remember is that in the end she slays a dragon and collects the last drop of its heart’s blood as some sort of magical stone. Thanks!

362R: Wild Manipulation / Duplication Box Adventures

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Science Fiction / Fantasy

Originally read in ebook format on a nook or kindle around 2010 or 2011. The book was free. No history on services.

Man Travels the Universe using software

The book starts off on a ship with a team of people headed to Mars (it is possible the book started with them there). The team is given or find a box which they find has symbols and words inside it. The entire team studies the item. They find they can replicate items by putting it in the box. The main character discovers how to manipulate the symbols and words, which he relates to programming BASIC, to do different things. Together with a female teammate they decide to terraform Mars by opening a path to earths atmosphere. They then head back to earth using the device (instant transport).

They are a couple for a while on earth where they figure out how to duplicate money and do some other fun things. At some point they are discovered by someone. A “creator” who invites them to their place somewhere in time / space. The creator has traveled time and space and acquired all sorts of historical documents and brought interesting people to his home.  He talks about an experiment with sports players and taking Babe Ruth out of his era and putting him in the current era and Babe Ruth still excels in the current era. He also talks about viewings of history through a pinhole in time which allows him to see but the people he is viewing in history to not know.

Up to this point the main character has been traveling with the female companion. The “creator” breaks them up by introducing the man to an actress that had died in the 1930’s to 1950’s but he pulled her out of one of the realities and brought her to his home.  He ends up sleeping with the actress. The woman companion knows what happened. They then break up. The “creator” says it was for the best as it would never have lasted.  Tells him he can go wherever, whenever he wants and if the actress wants to go, she can.  While here the creator also transfers his brain to a younger body of his using the “syntax”.  The ‘creator” gives the man a pda (older style tablet) device that has pre-loaded code written to accomplish specific tasks, like duplication, portals. The man and the actress travel back to his current time and create a movie with the actress as the lead role (even through in this reality she has been dead for years). Can’t remember much after this.

There was a sequel to the book where a different man finds a pda in a bar bathroom and figures out how to use it and goes on some epic quests. The original owner of the pda was placed in a coma and was hospitalized.  in the second book was trying to have the universe re-written with his DNA encoded but a programmer said it was not possible.

362O: Child Finds Way Home by North Star

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I’m trying to think of a book I used to read probably around the year 2000.

The kid (can’t remember if it’s a boy or girl) lives on a farm with their dad, their mother has died. Every Christmas Eve they give the barn animals Christmas treats. At some point the kid gets lost in the woods with their dog. They follow the North Star to head back home and are found by the dad and their neighbor.

362L: Sister Turns Out to be Another Personality

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I’m looking for a YA book from the late 80’s or early 90’s. It’s about a group of school students that go to an old house. The main character is a girl that has a sister. It’s revealed later that the sister is actually another personality.  I think there was a picture of a girl looking in the mirror on the cover. I think some bad things happen to the other students, but I don’t remember specifics.