Category Archives: 1990s-

344E: Childhood Picture Book about Boy in Forest

There is a book that absolutely transported me as a child. It was in the late 90’s that I read it (’97-’99). It was a picture book about a boy that enters a deep dark forest and encounters strange creatures in the trees. It was a rather eerie book and left me with a sense of mystery and awe. My friend from a conservative family read it too and he said it was demonic, if that tells you anything hahah! So it definitely had a dark, ominous tone. I don’t recall anything else, except that it had a lot of dark green.

Thanks so much for your help! I have been searching for this book my entire adult life. It would mean the world to me if you found it.

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

Searching for the alphabet book I had as a child in the late 80s/early 90s in Ohio. There’s no overarching theme for the entire book, other than alphabet. Each letter had a couplet as a sentence, so the book has a rhyming rhythm when read out loud. For example “C is for cookie, would you like a bite?” A few of the letters that I can recall are listed below. The book was printed in color.
A is for airplane, up in the sky
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

I was hoping someone out there would have a bit of information on a book I’ve been looking for over the last 20-25 years. The book was a hardcover, horizontal/landscape style. It was highly stylized, with what I could only describe as flat/paper like art. The book had little story to speak of, with the appeal being the detailed art. I believe the book had some fold outs as well.
The little text it had was descriptions of the dragons (if there even was that). It may have served as an encyclopedia of different dragons (Ice Dragon, Mountain Dragon, Forest Dragon, etc).

The dragons were mostly Asian-like in nature but there may have been some Western ones tacked on as well.

I think it was printed in the late 80s or early 90s, but it may just have been when the book was available to me. I can’t see it being from before the 1970s, it’s just too stylized. It’s possible, but I don’t think it was.

342W: An Out of This World Glowing Garden

This is a book that I read when I was a preteen, so early 90’s. I am starting to think I made it up! I remember there was a girl who lived in a cabin and is an orphan (I think) and she finds these seeds that glow so she plants them. Then they grow into a garden that shines at night and works to call her family to her because it turns out she is not from earth and her family was looking for her.

342H: A Moon Boy’s Android Brother

I am hoping you can help me find a book from my childhood. I think it was from the early 80s to mid 90s. It was about a boy that gets an Android robot for a brother. I think they live on the moon in the future. I think one of them has red hair. I believe it was a kid’s series, I was between 10-14 when I read it. I could be totally wrong on how old it was. I think I read the book in 2000 so it could be 1990s too. But I remember the two kids are climbing a tree in it, and I think they were around 12, and lived in a dome on the moon. Again, not sure about this one. I think there were 2 or 3 books in the series.
Thanks for the help!

342C: A house with a magic door

There’s a girl who lives in a house or has just moved to a house, and in the house lives a cat. She goes up a staircase into a room with many doors in it, and through one of the doors, the cat brings her to a world full of snow. I believe there are other doors with other places through them but I can’t remember. This was a picture book I believe and likely was written in the 90’s or even early 2000’s.