Hey, I thought there was a thread like this already... Maybe it was before the forum reset :)
Anyhow, can someone help me identify this short story? It's about two brothers whose father is in the railroad business. They want to go with him on the cross-country tour, but he says they have to run some errands for him first. The story follows one boy doing pointless things all day, thinking he'll miss the train and never get to go on the tour. I won't spoil the ending, since if you know it you should recognize it by now. My mom and I have been trying to figure out the name of that story for years. It just never occurred to me to ask you guys!
----------
__________________________________________________
"Writing is like taking a bath: if you don't do it every day, you stink!"
41,000 / 50,000
oct. 8, 2009 - 14 31
I haven't read that story, but I am glad we've got the thread going again. I wasn't sure if a new one was made after the reset or not.
----------Proud Member of the Trebuchet Club!
31,008 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2009 - 12 04
I don't know that one.
I have a book I'm trying to find too. I read it when I was a kid. This would be a young adult/kids novel published in the 70s. There was a kid who rode a bicycle, and, somehow, he got some device he hooked up to the rack of his bicycle that made the bicycle fly. He could lift up and fly over the tops of trees. Anybody know what book this is?
----------4,388 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2009 - 12 26
I've been trying for years to remember the name of a book I read as a kid. I read it in the late 70s-early 80s, so it could have been published anytime then or earlier. It was about a girl who entered a kids' magazine contest twice a year to name a pony, and if the magazine liked your name, you won the pony. The girl submitted the name "Hopscotch" in the very last contest before she was too old to subscribe to the magazine anymore, and the pony was delivered to her house out of the blue. She had to find a way to keep the pony. I forget how it ended, but as a horse-crazy kid, I loved the book! Does it ring a bell to anyone?
----------NaNo 2005: Can't Go Back (won!)
NaNo 2006: In Between (won!)
NaNo 2008: You Said You Loved Me
Script Frenzy 2008: Trusted (won!)
1,825 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2009 - 15 26
Sorry I don't know any of the other books, but maybe somebody will remember mine? It's a bit more recent, I read it in the late 90s, maybe even up to 2001 or 02. Anyway...
It followed a high school (possibly middle school) student and his friend, and I think another friend, who was a girl. The girl had just moved in, and immediately noticed several strange things about Friend 1, Friend 2, and pretty much everybody else in the school. Such strange things include 1. Everybody gets shots like, every month. There were some other strange things, too. Maybe some people started disappearing? I'm not really sure. Anyway, what's important is that the all the kids were aliens, but didn't know it, and the shots were what kept them looking like humans. Eventually, the kids are taken to an old abandoned town or something, stop taking their shots, and all turn into half-human, half-dog-thing aliens. There are gun-glove things which shoot lasers, also. And...there's a fight?
That's about all I can remember, anybody know what the heck I'm talkin' bout here?
35,671 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2009 - 20 37
I'm sorry to say I don't recognize any of yours... but I have one.
It was set in an Earth like place, but racial discrimination was opposite so whites were inferior. It's about a romance between an interracial couple and how they cope throughout their lives. I thought it was an awesome concept, but I can't remember the title!! If you know it would be awesome if you could NaNoMail me, because the forum subscription thing isn't working for me. Thanks!
----------Characters Killed: 1
Notes on Things to Fix: 5
Rolls of Duct Tape Procrastinated With: 6
Number of Tic-Tacs Consumed: 79
5,769 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 03 05
I remember that one, Cgindles! After a quick search of Amazon via Google, I think I found it: The Pony Problem by Barbara Holland. http://www.amazon.com/Pony-Problem-Barbara-Holland/dp/0140363394/ref=sr_...
Is that it?
----------I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn't have time. ~ Mark Twain
4,388 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 05 33
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Librarian Linda, you just made my decade!!! That's it!!!!!
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
----------NaNo 2005: Can't Go Back (won!)
NaNo 2006: In Between (won!)
NaNo 2008: You Said You Loved Me
Script Frenzy 2008: Trusted (won!)
57,786 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 05 58
I have one! I read it when I was about eleven, so around... I can't subtract... late 90's I suppose. It was a young adult book about two kids who get chased into the london underground, and find that there's heaps of other orphaned and abandoned teenagers living down there. I can remember the images and scariness of it so vividly, but I have no idea what the book is called! If anyone knows, chuck me a nanomail. And I'm sorry to say I did not recognize any of the other books.
----------Long live me and long live anarchy!
- Drunkard, for whom the bell tolls...
173,409 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 09 06
It was set in an Earth like place, but racial discrimination was opposite so whites were inferior. It's about a romance between an interracial couple and how they cope throughout their lives. I thought it was an awesome concept, but I can't remember the title!! If you know it would be awesome if you could NaNoMail me, because the forum subscription thing isn't working for me. Thanks!
You must be thinking on Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. :) We're reading it in school (well, I've already finished, and then finished the next book... xD) and I'm pretty sure that's the story.
17,470 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 09 18
This sounds familiar. It didn't involve a computer, by any chance?
----------50,190 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 09 41
Unfortunately, I don't recognize any of the books so far, but I hope someone can help me with a book that has been driving me batty for some time. It is probably an independent reader or YA book, from the late 1990s. It may have been from a scholastic book fair.
What I remember about this book is pretty vague. All I remember is that the MC was a girl; the book took place in the distant past (1800s? 1600s?) the town was weird somehow, and the big twist ending was that it was actually present-day (or the near future) and it was like living-history gone wrong. I don't remember why the townspeople were doing it; I think it was either for their religious or political convictions; or they were part of some twisted living history exhibit, or as an experiment with diseases?
Sorry about the intense vagueness...I hope someone can help me find this book again!
----------2008: Ariadne-20,734 (lost)
<
2009:
37,144 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 11 39
Ooh, I think I know yours, kazoochica.
I picked up a book in Waterstones the other day that sounded like that, it sounds really good, too. :)
Was it Pastworld by Ian Beck?
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/ian+beck/pastworld/63...
----------50,190 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 11 48
Hmm, Blue-Orange, I don't think that's it. That book looks really interesting, though; I might have to pick it up anyway ;-)
----------2008: Ariadne-20,734 (lost)
<
2009:
6,592 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 11 59
Aww, I don't recognize any of yours D :
I read a book from the public library when I was 10-12, so...2004 to 2006? It was sort of an old-looking book then. It was about a raccoon, all about her life in the forest (not talking cutesy, but "a bear is chasing me and my babies are dying" sort of story). Anybody heard of it? I think there was a sequel.
BTW, here is a Wiki page on American novels. So if you think the author was American and you can't find it, hunt here.
EDIT: I think I might have found it: Masked Prowler: The Story of a Raccoon by Jean Craighead George. She was one of my favourite authors as a child (Julie of the Wolves, anyone?), so it's very possible that it was her. Has anyone read this book? And I could've sworn that it was about a female raccoon, not a male, like this story is. I'm pretty sure it was illustrated, like this one, though.
----------Energy Drinks: 1
Cups of Tea: 2
Boxes of Cheezits: 2
Sleepovers: 4
SL: Thatch Feiri
Gaia: KillerQueen Bash
50,155 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 12 57
Kazoochica, I think I've read the book you're talking about. "Running Out of Time" by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Jessie thinks it's the 1840's, but it's really 1996, and she has to go to the modern world help her friends with diptheria . . . who were infected in order to strengthen the gene pool.
----------"What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t let fear of failure discourage you." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf
35,162 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 13 25
kazoochica: I liked that book! It was about to drive me crazy too, then I saw laurelmain's post. :)
I have two books that I read in elementary school (probably around the year 2000). One was about a colony of mice, and there's one mouse that saves the day by finding lots of gold. I think at one point the mice take shelter from a storm in a cave... and that's all I can remember. It was mostly pictures, with just a few lines on each page.
I remember a bit more about the next one. A girl moves to this Texas(?) town, where she's never been before, and meets the girl who lives next door. The neighbor immediately recognizes the new girl, and asks her when she cut her hair because it's a lot shorter than it used to be. The new girl is confused, but she doesn't tell the neighbor that she's never lived there before. Near the end, the neighbor girl realizes that she had actually never met the new girl before- she was really remembering the story of a girl in a book that she loved when she was younger.
Hope someone can help!
----------2007: Untitled: lost
2008: The Seer's Fate: won!
2009: The Lord of Slaves: ?
50,190 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 13 28
Larelmian,
----------Yes! That is the book! Thank you so very much! Finally the voices making me doubt the book's existence will shut up! :-)
2008: Ariadne-20,734 (lost)
<
2009:
5,023 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 13 36
I can't help with any of the other books mentioned...but I do remember this book I read once that I can't think of the title. It's a picture book; I read it in kindergarten (I know, such a long time ago!). I was about this pig who is on a beach and he wishes for a sandwich and instead he gets a sand witch. Any help with this would be appreciated!
35,162 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 13 51
arwen: I remember that! It's "Me First" by Helen Lester.
Here is is on amazon:
----------http://www.amazon.com/First-Sandpiper-paperbacks-Helen-Lester/dp/0395720...
2007: Untitled: lost
2008: The Seer's Fate: won!
2009: The Lord of Slaves: ?
6,726 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 15 05
Sadly I don't know anyone else's, but I have one!!
I think it was a series actually. It's about a girl and her siblings who have a genetic disease which kills them by the time they turn a certain age (I think 14 or 16). She has to hunt for a cure, and eventually finds one, but there's one per sibling and only one of them works.
I read it around 2000ish and it was one of the creepiest books I'd ever read, but I can't remember the title for the life of me!
----------2008 - Guardians of Belief WON; 50,874
2009
5,023 / 50,000
oct. 13, 2009 - 15 26
Here is is on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/First-Sandpiper-paperbacks-Helen-Lester/dp/0395720222
Oh my goodness! That's it! Thank you so much!
41,000 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 09 54
Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix.
The girl finds out she's living in a museum exhibit when smallpox (?) hits the town, and the promised medicines aren't delivered, so her mom sneaks her to the outside world to get help.
----------Proud Member of the Trebuchet Club!
41,000 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 09 56
Don't know the second one, but the first *might* be one of Marcus Pfister's books. He wrote Rainbow Fish, and lots of other glittery picture books. One had to do with mice and gold and unbalancing the island by hoarding the gold ... so they had to learn to share or something. Just a wild guess, but it might be what you are looking for.
----------Proud Member of the Trebuchet Club!
35,162 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 12 18
Milo and the Magical Stones! That's it, thank you so much!
Edit: Wow, looking back at my original post, I'm amazed that you were able to figure out what book I was talking about. Thanks again!
----------2007: Untitled: lost
2008: The Seer's Fate: won!
2009: The Lord of Slaves: ?
41,000 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 13 44
Glad to help! This is always my favorite thread on the whole forums, but the questions are sure getting trickier ... I don't know half the ones listed...
----------Proud Member of the Trebuchet Club!
50,921 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 15 00
I can even see the cover to my lost book, but have never been able to find it. It's about this kid from the perspective of his tutor. The kid grows up and falls in love with a woman who they find washed up from the sea. I barely remember any of it, but the cover had this beautiful naked woman covered with seals or sea lions. I think it was in the sci/fi fantasy section.
----------~ To be a real woman is to bring out the best in a man. ~
21,111 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2009 - 20 39
I don't know anyone else's, but I've got one of my own.
It was a fantasy book, a mash-up of several different fairy tales, Sleeping Beauty and Rumpelstiltzkin being the ones I remember. It started with a prince who was supposed to go find himself a bride and ended up stumbling upon Sleeping Beauty's vine-covered castle. He manages to get inside and is trying to figure out how to wake everyone up and defeat the evil witch who's responsible, but I think the people are moving around at night.
Meanwhile, his sister or cousin runs away from home to find some adventure and ends up with him at the castle. She gets trapped in a room by the evil witch and Rumpelstiltzkin offers to help her escape if she'll marry him, which she reluctantly agrees to do.
Then it turns out Rumpelstiltzkin's brother is a lost/exiled king enchanted by the evil witch. His curse is lifted at the end of the book, when he oversees the two weddings.
I also remember Rumpelstiltzkin leading the prince's cousin to believe that he was under a spell that made him short and ugly and that the spell would be lifted if she married him... but it wasn't true and he was just trying to get her to agree to the marriage.
17,470 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 10 06
Sorry I can't help with any of these.
D:
I do have one though. I read it a year or two ago, but it wasn't new then (I don't think). Everyone has a chip inserted at birth to control their thoughts and feelings, but there are a few who didn't have the chip or had it inserted wrong, and they live underground. 2 (maybe 3) teenagers try to find and destroy the source so that everyone can think freely again. There's a computer and they have to guess the name of it. The word King was a swear word.
I think the cover was pale green and had a butterfly on it.
----------17,205 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 13 47
Glad to see this thread again.
I read a book about 11 years ago now, (book is older than that, I think) about a dog. Pretty sure he had an owner too. The only thing I remember was that the dog's name was Ajax, and I distinctly remember a chapter of the book being called 'Ajax and the stone-age men'.
I would be eternally grateful if anyone knows this book!
----------"There is no greater mistake than that of always being right."
Yes, I do cling to my guns and my religion.
35,162 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 16 08
lordofthedogs- could it be "Ajax, Golden Dog of the Australian Bush?" It sounds like it's more about the owner than the dog, but it's all I could find when I googled it.
----------2007: Untitled: lost
2008: The Seer's Fate: won!
2009: The Lord of Slaves: ?