Category Archives: 1990s-

327U: Unplugged to Kidnapped

A while back I read a book about a group of kids that were sent to a tech addiction camp for rich kids. The book takes a turn though, the counselors are actually con-men who set up the camp to abduct rich kids and demand a ransom. The kids are taken to an island and eventually outsmart their captors and kill them. The rest of the book is about the kids surviving on the island and using the skills they got online to survive.

327R: Multiple Endings To Fairy Tale

I’m looking for a multiple ending children’s book that I read in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The book looked new back then. You could make choices to impact the ending of the story, but it was definitely not a “Choose Your Own Adventure” branded book. The book was thin and about the size of a magazine. The illustrations were fairly simplistic. It may have been part of a series. The story was fairy tale-like I and recall a story line about saving a sick prince. I think there was a witch/sorceress who prepared a potion using a jar of blue flowers/petals as a story line choice. This may be a totally mistaken memory, but the book was owned by a cousin and I vaguely remember thinking he got it from another aunt/uncle who bought it/them from an educational toy catalog company like “Discovery Toys.” I have a vague (also possibly incorrect) memory of the catalog company being Canadian. We grew up in Ohio. Would love to locate this book!

327Q: Glass/Crystal Palace

I read this book in the late 1990s. It’s a picture book, with detailed illustrations. I remember rich colors, and I think they looked like watercolor paintings. What I remember of the plot: there are two princesses (maybe they’re cousins), and one lives in a castle or palace of crystal or glass. The other princess comes to visit her in her glass/crystal palace, and she arrives by boat—I think the illustrations are of a city similar to Venice, where the streets are canals, and I remember fun bridges with lots of stairs. I was intrigued by the details of the buildings in the drawings. Part of the story may have been that the princess who comes to visit lives in a palace made of some other specific material—brick, stone, wood—something like that, but I’m not certain. And she decides that she would rather go back to her palace of glass.

326Z: Magical Land Emits Personalized Alluring Scents

I read this book in middle school between 1998-2000 and checked the book out from my school library. It was probably published in the late 80’s or 90’s. It was from the fantasy genre and included a magical land that the young female main character found by following a trail that brought her to a waterfall with a hidden entrance. Once she was in the magical land, there was some kind of dangerous landmark that lured people by emitting a pleasant scent that specifically appealed to each individual. For the main character I think it was a warm scent like cinnamon/honey/nuts/vanilla. I think this book may have also featured a relationship between the main character and her grandmother. Please help!

326F: Artistic Computers as Counterpoint to Throw-Away Technology

My stumper is just a fragment of a memory. I don’t remember the plot of the book at all, but it was near-future science fiction or maybe cyberpunk. The main character comes across someone with a beautiful laptop where the interior components can be refurbished and replaced, but the outside of the computer is a work of art that they would never part with. They talk about how there is a group of artists or maybe an artist commune that manufactures these computers with wood cases, and with beautiful keys made out of mother of pearl or semi-precious stones, basically to serve as a counterpoint to the throw-away culture of new technology. It was such a cool idea; I wish some artists were actually making computers like this.
If anyone recognizes this description and remembers what book it was in, that would be great!

326C: Spaceship 10/100 Hours

Ok, this book is one i picked up at an airport in Hawaii 2011. Its a SciFi romance that I think is intended for YA as the main characters were between 15-22. They were living on a spaceship with the Heroine sneaking through the vents. I’m pretty sure they rotated on a 10 hour schedule with the week starting over at 100 hrs.
Please help me, this book was so good it haunts me!

325T: Dream Date Turns Into Nightmare Lush

I remember reading this book in high school (I attended from 2004 to 2008) so it was either published during that time frame or before. I remember it being about a country girl who goes out with a unique boy, who I think ignores her at one point to get drunk and hangs out/dances with a older lady/groups of older woman or perhaps they whisk him away to them. The girl washes her hands of him and is angry by the betrayal and takes a truck to buy ice cream to drown her sorrows out. The boy finds her again and tries to apologize and grabs her arm to keep her from leaving but she is still holding a grudge so she wrenches her arm free, throws the ice cream in the truck’s seat, gets in, and slams the truck door in his face. She may or may not have gotten pregnant by the boy when they were dating too. That’s all I remember. Do you have any idea as to what the book is called?

325O: Picture book about boy growing up and his changing backyard

This book captivated my imagination with colorful illustrations (I believe they were mixed media/collage/claymation – something unusual).  We see the boy growing up and the changes in his backyard/neighborhood.  I believe it focuses on the growth of the plants and changing that reflects him growing up, but also urban development, possibly construction or a dump.  There were themes of environmentalism perhaps regarding pollution.  I read this book in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.  I believe the boy was white with brown or blonde hair.  I think most of it focused on him in the window and the view outside.

Thanks so much!