Category Archives: 1990s-
347Z: YA/Juvenile nonfiction book about world issues, spiral bound, came with a bag of real rice!
I’m looking for a YA/Juvenile nonfiction book about world issues that I read in the 1990s. It was spiral bound, full colour, maybe 5×8, and came with two zippered pouches of real rice at the back. The rice was part of a world-hunger learning activity in the book, where the reader spun a spinner…
347S: Emperor’s Son Cleans Up His Brother’s Elemental Messes
I got this book when the author came to my elementary school in Maryland in the early 1990s. The book is about an emperor who has to decide which of his (twin?) sons will succeed him. He challenges them both to go recover each of the 5 elements and bring them back to him. The first rash son runs ahead and steals each element leaving angry people and wreaking havoc. The second son cleans up each of his brother’s messes and then is gifted the element. He uses that element to fix his brother’s destruction at the next stop (ex. using water to put out fire). The other notable feature of the book is the illustrations – the illustrator used intricate cutout silhouettes.
347Q: The World of Fairies – Story Collection
There is a book from my childhood that was lost when our basement flooded, and while my parents remember it vaguely they don’t have any idea the title or author. Here’s everything I can remember about it — sorry this is quite long!
- A parable (possibly within another story?) about an impatient fairy who wants to see a rose bloom before it is ready, so she tears open the petals. The rose is beautiful for a moment, but then its petals fall very soon and it dies, while its more patient and kind sister rose blooms naturally.
- There is some sort of war between the seasons, and the armies of fairies representing each season come together to fight. I remember particularly the illustration containing all of the winter fairies gathered together, with armor of ice, launching snowballs at their enemies. Much description of each type of fairy– the autumn ones wearing acorn cap helmets, the spring ones clad in flower petals.
- A fairy from the skies is sent on some sort of quest that involves diving beneath the sea to fetch something– maybe a pearl? She finds all of the underwater fairies very strange and is frightened of them. In the drawings, their faces are very sharp, and I believe they have some fish-like attributes. Even though they are unkind to her at first, eventually she gets what she came for. I think that this story also includes her seeking out each of the seasons, which in this case are personified as beatific humans covered in natural motifs that are relevant to their season.
- A young fairy who grew up in a bird’s nest, I don’t believe she has wings, and eventually falls from the nest and begins wandering the world. I have forgotten much of this story, but have a vivid memory of the illustration of a will o’ the wisp, drawn as a young, pale boy with a huge shining head. I think the will o’ the wisp at first intends to drown her in the swamp, but she charms him with her storytelling or her singing voice or something similar, and he falls asleep and she leaves in the morning.
- One about a human girl who believes in fairies, although she’s never seen them. She grows angry and resentful for some reason, and then one day she is outside and sees all of her wickedness grow up around her in a big black wall, illustrated with many little faces making horrible expressions hiding in the wall.
- I don’t know if this is part of the above story or a separate one, but a human girl who is shrunk down small like a fairy for one day and one night. She learns what a fairy’s life is like, drinks nectar and plays on blades of grass and sleeps in a seedpod. I think there’s a little boat in this one, made of leaves or something.
347M: A book about memory
347B: Rough Tough Gruff Pirates
I am looking for a children’s book that my children adored but I can not remember the title or author.
It was a pirate story from the late 80’s or early 90’s My son was born in 1988 and we had a family mantra from this book: “We’re rough, we’re tough, we’re gruff gruff gruff” or perhaps “We’re gruff, we’re rough we’re tough tough tough.”
Good luck, you are me last hope.
347A: Peace/Anti-Nuclear Chunky White book with Colourful Stick People
Just thought of this book today because it seems somewhat prophetic given the more recent school strikes for climate, referencing it not being fair that it’s the children having to be the ones to make the grown-ups wake up! I think the subject was about nuclear bombs more than environment, nuclear threat being the threat of the day in the UK in 1980s/early 90s.
The book is very striking, minimalist and arty, the cover and pages being mainly white, with few words, and many small colourful stick people (each max 1” high).
I’m not sure which age range it was aimed at, could be teens or young adults or just any adults.
It is written naively as if by children for adults.
The format is large and chunky, perhaps about 8 - 9” wide by 10 - 12” tall and 1 - 2” thick. The cover as mentioned is white with some colourful stick people.
I think I bought in UK (tho could possibly have been in the USA) in the early 1990s (so published no later than 1992).
I cannot remember the title but I think it MIGHT have ‘Peace' in it… but it might not!!
It would be great to find it again.
Thanks for your help.
346V: Sex Workers Categorize Their Types of Clients
Non-fiction. Published pre-2008. Possibly a few decades earlier. Authored by 1 or 2+ woman writers. This book details 13 (?) 15(?) types of male johns who frequent female prostitutes. It is the result of studies and/or interviews conducted with prostitutes (possibly including 1 or more of the authors?) about the archetypes of johns who are categorized based on their preferences, requests, proclivities. It is an obscure book, somewhat academic in nature. Possibly a U.S.-based publication. The title–I believe–did include a number referencing how many categories of johns there are. (Note: the book is NOT The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It).
346S: The no where land – Abstract Menace Engulfs World (Solved!)
346O: Man-Hating Girl With Two Horses Named Prince and Swan
Can’t remember the title of a book. I read it about 10-12 years ago as a child. It had an orange cover I think, and I remember the words swan, golden, or road were maybe part of the title? It’s about a young girl who lives in some sort of Middle Eastern/Asian/Russian country I believe? And she always has suitors but she rejects them in a man-hating sort of way. The most memorable part is I think she has a horse called Prince and maybe a white horse called Swan. At one point she is locked in a cave/tomb with only a jug of water and a jug of oil for lighting a candle for days on end. After that she grabs on one of the horse’s tail to pull/drag her out? I read a query on the NYPL website which may be this book, but it has not been answered. I’ll include a copy paste of the person’s query below. Thank you for taking the time to read this and search.