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!
Category Archives: 1990s-
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
326C: Spaceship 10/100 Hours
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!
325J: Flipping Over Tails
325C: The sea, New England, disappearances. . .
I am looking for a book that I had started many years ago as a tween but have since forgotten the title. I never finished it, but what I can remember was that it had a dark (possibly black) cover. In terms of plot I believe it had something to do with mysterious disappearances, where people where inexplicably called or lured into the sea and never seen again. I believe it was set in New England in a coastal town. It would have been a hardcover around the time of 2000-2005. I think there was something about a man and his father having gone into the ocean. Maybe a sea monster? I didn’t get far enough into the story to figure out why the people were disappearing. I believe it was a book for adults. I don’t think it was part of a series. The time period was modern. I don’t know if it was mystery or horror, as I never finished it. I think it might’ve been classified as mystery. I don’t think it was a young adult book and I believe it had a male author