Looking for a children’s picture book about a girl who lives in a village (likely indigenous, maybe based on cliff dwellers?). The villagers see scary shadows on the walls of the cliff they live at the bottom of and thinks they are monsters. Eventually the girl climbs to the top of the cliff (maybe with a grass? ladder) and discovers that the shadows weren’t monsters, but friendly (people or animals, can’t remember.) I read this book as a kid around 2000, my grandparents had bought it, so likely published between like 1990 and early 2000s. They’d traveled to Australia and American Southwest, and I think book was purchased one of those places. It was a hardcover with full color illustrations. Tried googling key words but can’t find it so far, help!
Category Archives: 1990s-
344N: Undercover Magical Woman and Her Moody Cat (Series) (Solved!)
It's a series about a young woman who was born into a powerful magical prophecy & a secret society was to murder her at her birth, but she was taken & given to a rich man in a different magical ability/ house/ guild who raised her to believe that she was weak in magical power, so she became a stiletto-wearing, marriage minded socialite instead. She just graduated from the academy(?), & her dream job/ life ambition is to be the magical administration building's reception hall's decorator so she can meet & marry a powerful man with the right status from an appropriate guild/family. However, her secret boyfriend/ leader of the magical world/ head of the most powerful guild (whom she’s known & flirted with forever because of her high-status parents) gives the job to her bff (whom he's dating on the side & plans to marry because she's more magically suitable), & forces her to join a rough & dangerous monster/ bad guy/ naughty troll/ misbehaving goblin- hunting task force which is lead by the brother she didn't know her boyfriend had. So she does, in her stilettos, on her own terms, & with her funny & excessively pampered cat.
I think it's 3 books.
First one they end up undercover at a hotel, & the girl works with the big hunky brother guy (who is secretly not awesome, who likes to hook up with & wreck the women on his team, I think his last team hook up was another guy on the team’s fiancée & she died... and now that guy’s not on the team), a funny, charming guy who spends more time in the bathroom & on his hair than she does, who we find out in book 2 is pure awesome, & a huge & burly animal mage guy who soothes her moody cat. She & the brother work while while the 2 funny teammates chase pretty girls at the pool in their downtime.
I think she makes herself & the brother guy disappear at the pool at one point while they amp the volume on two bad guys’ conversation.
There may have been a potty-mouthed goblin issue in book 1 or maybe 3?
2nd book she & the awesome hair guy go undercover as a married couple to a haunted, murder Inn, where the cook/maid? Is a weather mage who kills off the guests & maybe the owner too.
I read these within the last 1-3 years, I believe. It’s all starting to blur together, & I can’t remember book 3 which is why it popped up in my literary Rolodex so I can now read it again! It was hysterical & I loved it & cant remember everything anymore!!! Huzzah for the rereads! But I can’t remember the title or cover either so I can’t find it.
344L: Brother and Sister Run Amuck Through Restaurant
My book Stumper is a children’s book that I predict comes from the 90s (even 80s maybe). I had it read to me everyday when I was a kid (I’m 22 now).
I have no idea what it’s called, but the cover depicts night time (Navy blue) with a restaurant illustration! I remember the book being rather large and rectangle (long). To give you a visualization, it sort of resembles Van Gogh's “Cafe Terrace at Night” painting!
The book follows a brother and a sister who run amuck through the restaurant - they run through the chefs kitchen and hide under the tables. They also do a lot of magic tricks. I vividly remember a white rabbit in a hat and the extending handkerchiefs!
The girl has black hair in a short haircut, and I can’t remember what the brother looks like.
I suspect that it’s not a popular childrens book as I’ve looked at countless lists and it’s never been there!
If you can find this book, I will be beyond happy. I have literally been searching for it for YEARS!
344G: Backstabbing (Literally?) Females At Dream Beach House (Solved!)
344E: Childhood Picture Book about Boy in Forest
343T: Summer Time Twins (Solved!)
The book I am looking for is a young adult book. I read it when I was a pre-teen in the early 90’s. It had twins, a boy and a girl, and the girl was named Willa. The boy may have been named August. They were also pre-teens. Their mother may have had a baby—a boy?? I remember trees, summer time and perhaps a tree swing or hammock. Maybe lemonade?
343L: Boyfriend Sleeps in Snow on Cold Night to Prove Love (Solved!)
I have searching for this book for a while. It is something I read in middle school. I’m 36 years old. The book was about a high school girl that was dating her brother’s best friend. It takes place in a state in the US where it snows and some or all of the book takes place during winter. I remember there was a window seat where she drank hot chocolate and looked out and saw him in the front yard. There was also a scene where they got into a fight and to prove himself to her he built himself a place to sleep in the snow in her front yard. I remember the Mom remarking that it was cold out there. Unfortunately I don’t remember the title or author or names of the main characters but I remember the book being well written and very age appropriate for middle school and early high school. I hope you can figure it out!! I would love to grab a copy for my home library. Thank you!
343G: Rhyming Alphabet Book
B is for bridge
C is for cookie, would you like a bite
E is for egret
J is for jumping bean
N is for nightingale
T is for taffy
Z is for zeppelin
342Z: Science Fiction Banks Hacked
-science fiction, young adult
-main character was a male
-someone had made some kind of system where everyone had their own personal code - could be a bank password, savings code, etc. - but it was extremely private and considered unhackable. I think it was based on polynomials or factorials
-The conflict is that someone figures out how to hack everyone’s password, data is exposed
-main character has some kind of relationship to either the person that created the code or the person that hacked it. I think there’s a rivalry between the main character and another male
-there’s a really big twist in the middle of the book!
-might turn into a heist book? but also maybe not
-I *think* the original hardcover is blue/green, has overlayed code in the background, one modern-looking symbol. Possibly a key
-read in 2013/2014, and I had at least 2 books in the series out at the time, I’m only describing the first one. I was in 8th grade - 12 or 13 at the time. The book was age-appropriate
342X: Asian Inspired Dragon Picture Book
The dragons were mostly Asian-like in nature but there may have been some Western ones tacked on as well.