Category Archives: 1990s-

335B: Christmas Mice Named After Spices (Solved!)

This is a Christmas book and it follows three mice who are brothers. They're named after spices (if my memory serves me correctly, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Ginger). They're trying to find a Christmas present for their mother and she sings them a lullaby. This is all of the information that I can remember, but I am a senior in high school and I read it roughly 10 years ago.

334X: Man Who Runs A General Store

I’m looking for a kids book about a man who runs a general store.

Early 90's kids book about a man who ran a store. When a customer would come in he always knew what they needed, until one day a woman came in and he couldn’t help her. Turns out in the end she wants him and they get married. I think it was called Joe’s place, or Joe's general store, or maybe it was Sam? Any help is appreciated.

334J: The Girl Who Couldn’t Clap

I’m looking for a children’s story about a princess who couldn’t clap, which embarrassed her family when they went to the opera. At the end of the story, she’s given a pair of gloves that button together at the wrists, so she can enjoy the opera with everyone else. I think there was a mention of something called “jumble mints” or “jumble sweets". It was probably part of a children’s anthology I had in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I’ve been searching for years; nobody in my family remembers this story and I’d be so thrilled to find it!

333Z: Australian Teenager on the Road, Searching for Biological Mother (Solved!)

In the first half of 2002, I got most of the way through a self-contained YA mystery series. I think there were ten books in total, each about 100-120 pages, probably published recently. I was attending a Canadian high school at the time and discovered the series while volunteering at another school’s library. I read all but the last one (I suspect the school year ended before I had a chance to borrow that one). I’d like to know how the series concluded, but every attempt I’ve made at finding these books online has hit a dead end. I either find nothing, or I find an earlier online description of the series that I wrote in 2015.
The protagonist is a young woman from Australia (as I recall), about sixteen, named something like Blake or Blaine. The series has her name in the title along the lines of ‘The Blake Journals’ or ‘The Blaine Files’ or the like. The first volume opens with her leaving home in a carefully thought-out plan to run away. She disappears in the middle of the night, grabs her possessions, and takes to the road on some kind of motor scooter or moped. We eventually learn that her goal is to locate her biological mother, who vanished years ago. As I recall, there’s very little in terms of action-adventure: this is more about a quiet and painstaking solo quest.
The books’ cover images were nearly identical. They all had the series title in large yellow-and-black typography, staggered a bit for a vintage-typewriter look to convey mystery/edginess. If I had to guess, a publishing house cranked these out in a short period of time as a one-off, but clearly the series intrigued me enough that I read about 90% of it, and now I’m finding it tantalizing.

 

333Y: SciFi Plot Fragment – The Harmony and The Melody (Solved!)

I read this book at the Boulder Library, it was written in this century (I think).
Earth humans are subjugated by a technologically superior species.  At first the foolish Earthlings (are there any other kind?) think the superior species is a bunch of evil meanies.   They come to find out that the meanies are actually helpful in protecting humans from far more pitiless and powerful adversaries, who have factions called Harmony and Melody, and when a defector from the adversary conveys information to the meanies, it is compelled to destroy itself because it’s contaminated by inferiors.

333X: SciFi Plot Fragment – Tacretude, species on the run from galactic gene police

I read this book at the Boulder Library, it was written in this century (I think).
The plot was a little reminiscent of Sundiver.  It was a story of species (humans among them) who were on the run from galactic genetic police.  The time scales were long enough for tectonic plate subduction to bury middens.  A species’ essential nature and behavior was called Tarcretude or Tacreteude.

333R: Interactive Alphabet Sounds

I am looking for a children’s interactive alphabet sound book that was purchased in the 90's at either Price Club or Costco. I believe it had a white cover with the soundboard of alphabet letters attached to the side of the book. Each letter would play a sound. All I can remember is that the “T” was for trombone. This is all I can remember at this point. Thank you!

333P: Boy in Wheelchair Can Astral Project

Grant Molina, cambriawk@gmail.com[/privaate]

Book was read in the late 80's - early 90's.

Highlights:

Boy is confined to a wheelchair, living with his grandma in a trailer. The town fair is near his home and he really wants to attend, but isn't able to. Somehow he astral projects himself to the fair. The boy's ability to astral project increases. At one point he notices a man who is suspicious or is about to commit a crime. The boy follows the suspicious man to he apartment. The apartment is filled with doll heads hanging from the ceiling.

Sorry if this description seems jumbled, it was second-hand information from my sister. I am trying to help her out. Thank you.