Category: Name That Book Request

The book is about a high school drama department putting on Midsummer’s dream and it is from the POV of one if the tech kids who works the spotlights. He meets a new girl who tries out for the play and gets one of the lead roles and he slowly starts falling for her but they only talk when she is on stage and he is up in the catwalk and she can only hear his voice.  I remember that the cover of the book had lots of stage lights on it and the words were in front of all the lights. I read it was in middle school but I’m not sure which year, so I’m gonna give you 2010 would be the last year it could have come out but it was more likely 2008 or 2009. 

The book I’m looking for is a YA book about a teenage boy who travels to the “future” but it’s primitive world after some sort of disaster? I think a bomb went off. My memory is fuzzy here.  He lives out a whole life, joins the local tribe, even learns the language. Then, suddenly he is transported “back” to his own time to a mall. He ends up growing up to be a scientist in the hope of stopping whatever nuclear disaster or climate disaster that happens.

They belonged to my older sister, so I assume they were from the 80s but they could be from the early 90s. She was born in 81, and I was born in 91—I read these books in the late 90s/early 00s when they were all gifted to me as hand-me-downs. What I remember is, unfortunately, not all that helpful as it’s mostly actual plot content, not anything about the covers or titles. The information I remember about the 3 books is below: 

Book #1 This was a book about a teenage female soccer player (she had long blonde hair if that helps?) who breaks her leg during tryouts (I think? It was like…for varsity, or something similar) and is stuck at home for the next few weeks while it heals. I THINK it takes place over summer, but I can’t be sure. I remember that at one point she attends, or has, a birthday party and I think her character has a brother. 

Book #2 This was a book about a middle school or high school (though I am pretty sure it was middle school?) student government election. There’s a scene of her making her own posters with friends. The main girl was running for student body president and at one point her best friend who is a boy rides them somewhere on his bike with her sitting on the handles while people from school watch. 

Book #3 This book was, I think, about a girl starting 9th grade and adjusting to high school. I remember that the popular/mean girl in her grade was named Brandy and that at one point Brandy’s character throws a pool party that the main girl gets invited to (though I believe it’s like, a pity invite where the whole class got invited or something). The main character goes through some typical adjusting-to-high-school pains, including being mortified about having to take a shower after gym class. Her character has a childhood close friend who is a boy from her neighborhood, but if memory serves I think they’ve drifted apart some? And she’s made friends with a new girl in town. The big conflict/climax I remember about the book is that the boy from her neighborhood runs away at one point and the main character goes in search of him and eventually is the one to find him and convince him to come home.  It’s also possible that any, or all 3 of these books, were part of different YA series. I have a vague memory of being annoyed that my sister had so many random one-offs instead of owning the whole series. 

 read part of it back in 2017-2019 on the schools mackenvia account, ive checked there but no luck since i no longer have the class. Anyway it was a ya novel about this highschool aged friendgroup, perks of being a wallflower vibes. All i remember from the book though is how it started: introducing the friendgroup via them playing a card game that they had made up. one of the cards in the deck was added for a characters birthday (i think his name was marth or mark??) the card said game over name wins.

I’ve been trying to find a book for years but it’s practically impossible to find. I have a lot of nostalgia attached to this book- it was given to me by a family member at a funeral when I was about 9 and when I moved to the US at 13, I never brought this along with me (aka my biggest mistake ever). I’d reread this all the time as a child but now I haven’t been able to find it at all and I really want to pass it on to my little cousin who shares my love for reading. So anyway about this book, I assume it’s quite old and it’s a chapter book with pictures. I was 9 in 2010 so I’m positive this was published before then or around that time. I was given this book in India but I’m pretty sure the author was British or European because the denomination for currency was not Indian. I think they used tuppence. The chapter book was a collection of different stories and the pictures were devoid of color. It was a children’s book but did not feel as childish as some and I distinctly remember the picture of a bee in there. Some of the stories were pretty unique which I thought would make it easier to find online but I’ve had no luck. Let me describe the stories to you in no particular order.

1. One of the stories was about a little fairy who finds a bee. The bee basically explains that it has pockets to collect pollen. The fairy needed to deliver some packages so the bee offers to store the packages in its knees where the pockets are and gives the fairy a ride. I feel like this story was titled something like “do bees have pockets” or “where do bees keep their pollen”. Something along those lines…

2. One of my favorites: a boy is visiting his extended family. His aunt has a special recipe for black currant tea that she makes only when the kids are sick or hurt. This boy really wants to drink it so he fakes being sick but his aunt sees right though him and refuses to give it to him. He sulks but later notices a cup of what looks like black currant tea on the table. Tempted, he secretly drinks it but is surprised when it tastes horrible.  The family finds out that he drank it and are shocked because it was actually leftover dirty paint water and not actually black currant tea. They laugh about it and the boy is embarrassed but the mom makes black currant tea for him to feel better. 

3. There was a story about talking shoes. Don’t remember the plot but their pictures had faces on them and the girl could talk to them.

4. There was a story about ice cream, and cornetto was mentioned specifically. I vaguely remember something about a girl giving up her ice cream because she sees another girl getting injured so she wanted to cheer her up. She’s sad about it because she had used her pocket money to buy it. Later on when she gets home her mom has surprised her with cornetto ice cream. 

5. There was a spooky story about a witch who lived in a house and she had a black cat. I don’t remember anything else but just that it was spooky and weird in a cool way. 

6. There was a story about dolls. One doll somehow gets lost from her owner and she meets other dolls. Some have horrible owners and in the end she finds the right owner for her. 

I am not sure of title or author, but it was about a young woman, or older teens, who had been kidnapped/taken to this weird house and given names of fruit/vegetables- the main character was given the name “Olivia” or “Olive.” Other young women/teen girls were manipulated to believing their new identity. They were punished if they didn’t go along with the doll-like clothing, names, etc. (and for some reason, I recall their clothing and names were somehow related… maybe by color or pattern?), and I’m not sure how it started or ended, but I believe the “Olivia”/“Olive” character escaped. I think I read it when I was 12. It was terrifying and intriguing and probably why I love various crime & mystery, thrillers, and some of the more intense, darker novels (ex. ‘The Alienist’ and anything similar), whether fiction, based on a true story, or documentary/memoir.

I’m looking for a fiction book about girl falling in love in a logging town. I took it out from the library back when I was in middle school around 2009. The cover has an image of a forest fire on it I believe. It followed the coming of age of a female character who lived in a logging town. She ends up falling in love and moving in with a guy. At some point there’s a huge forest fire and they have to evacuate..maybe the male love interest has to be part of the fire fighting crew? Not completely sure. There’s a scene where she picks berries to make pies, there’s a scene where they walk through town together. It seemed old when I picked it up on 2009 and it was set maybe in the 80-90s? I can’t find it anywhere. I think it’s definitely out of print now and my library got rid of it from their catalogue lol. I think the main character had blonde hair. Ahh I’m trying to remember other details, I feel like there was something about her family or community not approving of her love interest.

This was a horror book with stories from multiple authors First story was about this girl who goes to a party , they have an accident while coming back, she gets buried Another story is about someone getting electrocuted by a radio in the bath Some story about a bog  Another story about someone dragging a man with her car when he gets a piece of clothing stuck in it and the man haunts her

I’m looking for a book I read in elementary school in the early 2000s (03-05). I was most likely in 2nd or 3rd grade but had a high reading  comprehension or whatever they call it to read YA fiction at that age.  The book was a thriller/horror book with black and yellow caution tape designs I believe, that discussed a school shooting and kids surviving it. I feel crazy talking and describing this because all my friends always point towards the One Tree Hill school shooting episode and think I’m conflating the two…I swear in my mind I’m not but this is my last chance to stop feeling delusional. It was a great book from what I remember and one of the first eye openers I had with our sad realities.  

 I am a school librarian in the U.K. who read everything I could find when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. I have never been able to   track these down.

1. A novel I read around age 10 which I borrowed from a family up the road in 1980ish. All I can remember is the main character was female and for some reason she goes to live on her own in a small cottage in or on the edge of a forest, possibly a meadow, there is a dad at some point.

2. I am sure this one is from slightly earlier and is set in a busy American city, possibly New York. It might have been a picture book and my memory is that the main character lives with many other children (siblings) in some kind of an apartment in which they have many floor to ceiling bunk-beds, possibly several beds high which are kind of built into the walls.