Category Archives: 1990s-

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

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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

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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.

358Y: Stuff That Makes Kids Cranky

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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)

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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.

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.

358P: Originally Reluctant Woman Frees Prince

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I have used several other places, and have had no luck with this one.

It is a high fantasy type of book that takes place entirely in the fantasy world. It definitely seems like the beginning of a series. I vaguely remember it being written by a female Australian author and I believe it was published in the mid-later 1990s or early 2000’s. It was a trade paperback that I checked out from the library. The cover was a simple cover, not a complicated/traditional fantasy one.

It starts with a young woman working in her family’s inn/tavern and then she gets swept up with a prince who later gets imprisoned and who she frees at the end. At the beginning, she has a bad opinion of him, but then she travels to some place where he is getting ready for battle I think and gets to know him better. I believe there is magic based on elemental powers. I remember that she has to work with elemental beings, and they start learning to work together. At the end she ends up going to the castle where the prince is imprisoned and she frees him.

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.

358M: Children’s book on a boy and too many cats

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I’m hoping you can help us find this book we read to my daughters when they were young in the late 1990s, early 2000s:
The book is either a picture book or a beginning readers book about a boy who loses his cat, and decides to put “wanted” posters up around his neighborhood. But he forgets to put a picture of his cat on the poster, and neighbors bring all sorts of cats of every variety to his house and his home fills up with cats. There are lovely illustrations of the different kinds of cats. We can’t remember the author, illustrator, or the title, so this might be a challenge for you.

358H: Cold War spy thriller set in Africa

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As a child (sometimes in the 80’s or early 90’s) I read a book about a brilliant and charismatic Cold War era African leader who uses military cunning to successfully invade two of his neighboring countries (I believe Togo and Benin) .

The plot revolves around the leader setting the two countries against one another by having a mercenary frame one country for planting a bomb in the other. The leader than promises each country his support in a future war, but ends up invading and taking over both countries.

The book features an American or British white citizen visiting the country, befriending the African leader and falling in love with with a black tall singer. He joins the final battle in the book.

I also recall a minor scene where a pedophile communist spy was able to discover the plot by getting a government official drank, but he is killed prior to being able to share the info.

Another character is a British white secretary which works for the African leader and becomes his mistress.

I did extensive online research but could not find the book.

358G: Children’s Book with Elevator

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I have been searching google all day with no luck even finding the right title to this book.
I would imagine it was published sometime between 1990 and 1998. I am almost 34 (born in 1987) and loved this book as a child.
This book was shaped like a sky scraper – not a usual rectangle! It was a hardcover and all the pages were also board book material. I don’t recall any words or an actual story — just illustrations.
A track ran through the center of the book with a small plastic square that was an elevator you could move up and down the length of the book. The illustrations inside were the many floors of the building carved up into various different shops and businesses. For hours I would pretend to ride the elevator around running errands in the book.
It’s driving me nuts knowing this book existed (my brother remembers it too) but not being able to find anything even remotely like it after hours of searching online. I now have a daughter who I know would enjoy it just as much if I could find a copy. Although honestly just knowing the title and being able to see pictures of it would suffice!