Category Archives: YA (grades 7-9)

212A: Angsty Teen Boy runs away to wilderness instead of living with rich parents

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Hopefully you can help me find this book. I’ve been searching for it for the better part of 10 years. The book would have had to be written no later than 1999.
I only have vague memories of the book. What I do remember of the plot is this:

Angsty teenaged boy is really smart. His parents are rich alcoholics that don’t really care about him. One day he decides to pack up, leave home, and live in the wilderness. He survives living in the woods for a little while, but does eventually start to have some trouble. He later meets a woman that also lives in the forest and has been for years(?). They quickly become friends, and the boy starts to become attracted to the women. They live together happily for a few weeks/months until winter starts to set in. One day they’re out hunting/foraging when she.. dies.. somehow. I think she slips and falls down a waterfall or creek and breaks her neck/back. The boy, distraught and panicked, buries or cremates her.
Now depressed the boy sets out further into the wilderness in full-on winter. He gets frostbite and I believe he finds shelter at some point. He sets out once again and at some point he passes out in the snow and later wakes up in a hospital with several of his fingers having been amputated.
The story may have been told in the past tense, while the boy spoke to a counsellor in the hospital.

211C: YA mystery series (Solved)

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I’m attempting to find two YA novels (may be part of a longer series) featuring best friends Kim (tall, thin, blonde) & Alexa (name may not be exact; small, brunette), 13-15yo, amateur detectives. One book features them at riding camp, investigating twin sisters who may be planning to kill male counselor who impregnated one sister. In one scene, they hike through a cave with stalactites and stalagmites. The other book features a mysterious death at a neighbor’s house where college/20-smtg friends of neighbor’s child(ren) are staying; they are involved in drugs and may have faked friend’s death by drowning him/her in swimming pool. I seem to recall the author had a woman’s name. The last I saw these books was in my secondary school library in the late 1980s/early 1990s. I would guess they were published in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Any help appreciated!

211B: Traveling merchant visits small rural town on top of a hill.

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I’m looking for a dark young adult novel, about middle school reading level, published from 2000-2009. All black with fancy white/silver steampunk-style text on the cover. It was about various figures in a small town on top of a hill, specifically a traveler that comes to the small town to show off some sort of technology/machiene. The townspeople live extremely rural lives in some sort of vague time period before machines were commonplace, but the setting is very disconnected from our world.

At some point in the story, a cat is implied to be eaten? I believe some sort of book is integral to the story… the cover of the novel is made to look like the book.

There is some sort of fortune-telling? I think the book vaguely predicts the future of people in the town. Sorry this is incredibly vague, I’m having trouble remembering almost anything about this book.

210E: collection of stories (3-ish) about foxes

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Looking for a collection of stories (3-ish) about foxes, all from the fox’s perspective with little-to-no human interaction. Very descriptive of the natural environment, tells of fox’s travels, struggle to survive, escape a hunt, etc. Would have been read in the mid-80’s, not sure of publication year. Likely for pre-teen/young adult readers, and may have been purchased through a Scholastic Book Sale. Not sure if all stories were from the same author, but writing was very similar for all. Total length of the collection was around 120-150 pages. If memory serves, the title of one story was fairly long (may also have been the title of the collection), other titles were short. The book I read was a brown hardcover, some light illustration on the dust cover. Previous searches have turned up “Red Fox” by Charles G.D. Roberts. I do not believe that is the book I am looking for, though the synopses would be very similar.

210A: kind of “charm school” in book form

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I regret very much that I cannot recall the name of the book, and I do not know who the author is (but I’m pretty positive it was a female author). The book was one of a stash of books my grandmother sent to me one Christmas — I think I may have been about 12 or 13 years old. I was born in 1956 so that would be 1969, but my memory is weak, and I cannot recall precisely how old I was.

The book had pen and ink illustrations, and basically, it was a “growing up” book for young ladies or teenage girls. It dealt with good manners, proper etiquette, poise, appearance — kind of “charm school” in book form. I remember some of the passages: advice on what to do when you are a guest in someone’s home, how to address an invitation; how to properly rsvp to a wedding invitation, how to set a table, proper table manners, etc. — I even recall the instruction to leave some morsel on your plate when you are a dinner guest, rather than leave your plate completely cleared…..so as not to give the hostess the impression that you were left still hungry..!!). There was a chapter on good grooming, and the mention of an anecdotal story about a young secretary who, earning a meager salary, owned only one blouse, yet nevertheless took care that it was always clean and pressed….the young woman’s attention to her neat appearance eventually gained her the attention of her boss, who ended up marrying her.

I’ve searched for more than 30 years for this book — I did not own it for very long, as I was foolish enough to loan it to an irresponsible classmate who never returned it to me.. But having 3 daughters myself, I have often thought of this book and wished I could find it to share with them. The author’s writing style and language had a certain refinement that I do not find in the books that I’ve come across in my internet search for this particular book.

I’ll be astonished, and more than grateful, if my Stump the Bookseller inquiry is unsuccessful and you do actually locate this book for me.

208B: Post-apocalyptic fairy story (Solved)

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My memory is kind of fuzzy, but it was either a children’s or young adult novel I read in the early-to-mid 2000s (I’m leaning closer to somewhere around 2004-2006, give or take a year). The main plot line was that there’s some sort of horrible acidic superstorm approaching the house of these kids. Their power goes out, so the older sibling tries to calm the younger ones by telling them a story about fairies. Their parents aren’t there (I think I remember them being out of the house scavenging for resources. The kids are worried about this, and I think it’s implied they might be dead, but I’m not sure). I remember this part of the story being pretty dark.

After this, the story then shifts to the kid’s story, following the exploits of the fairy and its mischief in a much lighter and happier world, while periodically interjecting dialogue between the siblings. I also remember something about an old lady meeting the fairy. I can’t remember the story very well from here, and I don’t think I finished the book.

If it helps, I remember the cover of the book depicting some storm cloud and a lightning bolt, with the title involving something like “Sprite” or “Fairy.”

202B: Teen Love Triangle

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Teen book from the late 80s to mid 90’s about two best friends. One of them falls in love with the others boyfriend. I believe the boyfriend works on planes or owns one. I remember there was a scene with two on a couch in an airport hangar. I think there were also several scenes on a porch swing. I think the ending was the friend finally realizing her boyfriend and her best friend should end up together. Any help identifying the title and author would be greatly appreciated!

199E: 3 Siblings worship magic dough/bread man (Solved)

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I read this book in middle school, 1995. so book is late 80s-90s. Three siblings, 2 girls and a boy, with the boy as the middle child. the youngest sister is ill/sick/crippled in some way. home life is not awesome, and they may or may not have moved to a new house- a huge tree in the backyard, they each find different items in the “new” backyard and decide to bake all of them into bread that mom or grandma was making. i think one of the items was a wire in shape of a crown, and another thing for the heart and something in the dough mans hand. this became some kind of magical talisman that made the little sister stronger and or able to perform magic. i also distinctly remember (i may be wrong) them having an entity i thought was rowan or something with an “R” that they worshipped for giving them this magic, and it became mad for some reason, resulting in the little sister climbing the tree to give back the dough man, and her falling…

196B: P.S. I Hate You (?) (SOLVED)

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I read a young adult fiction book when I was about 13, probably published in the 70s. I was certain it was called PS I Hate You, but can’t find anything on Google with that title. It was about a teen girl, possibly named Marley, who leaves a note on the kitchen table, closing with P.S. I hate you and runs away to her father in the city. While living there, she falls in love with her English teacher when he introduces her to the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay (the same poem used in The Outsiders). She is also insulted by another teacher, who calls her “plain, plump and pimply.”