Tag Archives: creatures

378R: Surreal Nautical Quest for Strange Creature

I’m looking for the title of a picture book that I read as a child in the mid-1990s. I believe the book was written in the 1980s or 90s, though it could also be from the 70s. I don’t remember any part of the title. It was a large-format hardcover edition.

It features illustrations with a watercolor style and a brightly colored, somewhat flat, surreal aesthetic with greatly exaggerated proportions. Its protagonist is an explorer who is dressed in a blue 19th-century naval outfit and sailing a large (and very tall) ship by himself.

He is searching for a rare creature that has some giraffe-like features and eats bananas, and on every page you can see that this creature is following him just out of sight. During his exploration, the protagonist meets several huge, frightening monsters, one of which I seem to recall was named the “purple lumpy thumpet”.

When the explorer finally finds his creature, it is revealed that it has many babies, and also that the monsters he encountered earlier were all friendly. All characters then have a picnic together on an island.

As a young child I read this book over and over again, captivated by its unique blend of unsettling, dreamlike  visuals and mischievous, lighthearted storytelling. I have now been searching for its title for nearly a decade with no luck, and just found out about this service.

264D: Children’s picture book about creatures in a cave

I am looking for a children’s picture book  that I am 90% sure was published before 1990. It follows a group of explorers through a cave. Page after page there are different looking creatures staring at them from behind rocks and on the stalagmites on the ceiling as they pass through the cavern. Some of the creatures sort of look like the ones from Where the Wild Things Are, or in the same spirit of Mercer mayor’s monsters. I have looked at both their respective catalogs and can’t kind a book that fits this description. I am pretty sure it is a rectangular shaped book. This one has stumped me for years and I really want to find it. Appreciate the help