“This YA novel is about a teenage boy (an only child) who goes to summer camp, and finds out once at camp that his parents, in exchange for external youth, have signed an agreement to sacrifice every child they have together at age 18 at this same camp. The boy had an inkling as to what was going on prior to this, as he found a photo album in his parents’ attic of their past children (although he didn’t know that they were his dead siblings at the time.) The failed sacrifice (he escaped) occurs in some sort of cave, and his parents were there, and they spoke a lot about the last child they sacrificed, a daughter named Meg, with long, curly eyelashes, who didn’t have a clue what was going on until the very end. They also had a cat clock at their house, the ones where the tail swings back and forth.” Only Child By Jesse Osburn, thanks to Lost Classics reader Majenta!
Category: Name That Book Request
Request # 3
We’ve ruled out Ann Landers Talks to Teenagers About Sex and Twixt Twelve and Twenty, and think it’s a male author: “Sometime between 1965 and 1968, my mother gave me a book that clearly explained sex. All text, no illustrations.” Suggested titles: Girls and Sex, by Dr. Wardell B. Pomeroy; On Becoming a Woman by Mary McGee Williams and Irene Kane
Request #2
In reference to Just Friends: “at any point is it revealed that one of the characters has friends that are just in his head? I’ve been trying to think of the title of this book, but now that I see your description, I think I am mixing it up with another book from the 1980s.” Suggestion: Louly by Carol Ryrie Brink
Request # 1
“Girl has a horse that she loves, but must leave it to go to the home for unwed mothers. And it dies. Maybe from trying to jump out of a straight stall?” Suggested title: But I Thought You Really Loved Me By Evelyn White Minshull Sounds like this is not it, keep those suggestions coming! Another suggestion: Sarah, Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic.
Lost Classics of Teen Lit: Name That Book! 