Author: mondomolly

 I have a patron searching for a YA novel, probably from the 80s or 90s concerning a 1950s cool “greaser” tough kid who dies in a car crash and is either reincarnated as a nerdy 80s kid or becomes a guardian angel for a nerdy 80s kid.  The patron says the book is similar to the 80s movie “The Heavenly Kid,” but is not that movie.  I don’t know of any novelization of that movie, but can find nothing with this plot for them.  Any thoughts? Suggestion: the novelization of the TV series “Teen Angel”, starring a pre-90210 Jason Priestly. 

The one I can’t seem to find is a book written in the 70s or early 80s, and it was about two sisters, one of whom was hidden from the other because she had a disability and was a slow learner. I think the main character might have been named Cathy, but I can’t find anything when I search YA with her name. I don’t know the title or the author.  I think the mother was a stepmother. I was discussing old book favorites with a friend and we both recall reading some book like this from our school library (in the 70s/80s), but can’t recall the rest. Suggestion: Cathy At the Crossroads by Nancy W. Faber

 I’ve been looking for this book for years. It’s a young adult book, I read it in the seventies when I was about 10. It’s about two friends at school, one is kind of a nerd, supersmart, and the other is his best friend. One of the two starts having dreams about events, and either the dreams come true, or will come true, and sometimes they’re about tragic things. They start a business and I believe it was called Dreamers Inc. or Dreams Inc (which I thought was the title of the book, but nothing exists under those names), and they use their dreams (one of them dreams and the other interprets the dreams, I think) to help others and make some money. At one point, they fight, and the nerd, who has completely changed now and believes he is the one with all the power, has a dream, and his friend interprets the dream or something along those lines, and he tells him not to go somewhere, and I think he goes to an abandoned building and he falls or is pushed. They find his body the next morning. 

I read this book as a young adult in the 1980’s set in the future. Sci-Fi? One of the characters is a young girl who is advised by the decapitated heads of dead leaders kept alive in glass containers. I remember the cover had a picture of the young girl with short dark hair. It’s not much but I’ve been trying to locate the title for quite a while. Thanks for any help!

 I am searching for the title of a book I read as a child but I don’t have much to go on. I probably checked it out from the school or local library, in the mid-late 80s. There was a juvenile (older child or young teen) main character who I think had a tough home life and wanted to run away from home. They put together a stick and bandana rig or had a knapsack (I’m not sure which), gathered some things from home, and then ran away. Items they took with them included a loaf of bread and some change (dimes stick out in my mind for some reason, and they were calculating how long they could make their money last). I also remember something about canned goods, and for some reason there were a few cans without labels, which were thought of as surprise meals. I don’t remember much else from the book. I might be mixing up books here, but the character may have been on the cross-country team. Suggestions: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner  or  Homecoming by Cynthia Voight 

 I am looking for YA book from the 80’s (possibly 70s?) that is a coming–of-age book about a girl who feels like she is in the shadow of a perfect older sister. She takes the sister’s bathing suit, which is way too big on her, to impress a boy who is going to teach her to swim and she tries to dry-shave her armpits and ends up cutting them and bleeding. She almost drowns at the end of the book and the boy saves her. I thought this was Jacob Have I Loved but recently discovered it is not the same book!  

I’m looking for a book about a group of kids in school being bullied by kids older than them. They got the bright idea to use a thesaurus to up their game when speaking to them so that they would sound more intelligent. I don’t remember much more about the book except that I might have read it around 1982.

In 1976-77 our teacher read us a book where a child was traveling with a canoe in the snow and was surrounded by wolves. The boy or girl then had to flip the canoe on top of them for cover while the pack of wolves tried to get at them. Does this ring any bells?

 YA novel published in 80’s or early 90’s and read early 90’s. A poor girl moves with her small family to rural farm house, hippy-ish parents party a lot. I remember the dad being drunk and then having company. She misses their family van, which I think they lived in before. Her name may be Topaz. The striking thing about the story is her sadness and nostalgia.