Maybe thirty five years ago I found a book, and the only line I remember is, "Uncle Charlie brought the barley." It was about a bunch of people bringing ingredients to put in a soup, and they enjoyed it at the end. My mother made the soup for me and we really enjoyed it, but I can't for the life of me find it anywhere. Does anyone know?

Okay, super huge long shot. I’ve been wanting to find this book for my kids cause I loved it so much.

It was a chapter book, the front page had a portrait of a young looking cartoony boy. I found it in the little library in front of a YMCA.

There was a talking owl and few animals. The school was split into two dorms one for girls and one for boys. The boy on the cover (main character) was just brought in for some kind of magical gift. It was giving Percy Jackson but was not that series. I wish I could remember more…

The gendered sides had some weird rivalry or smth. Am so mad my memory of it is so faded.

Would be awesome to figure out what the book was. Thank you!

All I remember is I was about 10 when I read it, it was a rather thick book (could have been an anthologies? Like multiple books in 1) there were three girls, I remember unicorns, and a talking wolf. Also crystals were prominent, but I really don't remember that much it's been almost 20 years lol.

I think the cover had a fairly photo-like image of three girls, I think 1 had black hair and maybe another was blonde and the background was like groovy rainbow.

Quick pre-emptive apology for any shitty spelling or grammar, I'm just loosing my mind trying to find this.

That aside, I remember reading this book to a child I was babysitting a few years back (they owned the book, I'm not a sicko who just reads gruesome stories to random kiddos, haha) and we never got through too much of it. I thought for the life of me it was a Goosebumps book but searching for "Goosebumps story, kid in can crusher/trash compactor" or any variation of such yields no results.

I don't remember much of the plot and for some reason part of me is telling me what I do remember may be a totally different book since we only read the start and it hadn't gotten to anything about the main character in any perilous situations yet. I will still write what I remember the plot being, though it's incredibly disjointed since I do not remember any order of events.

The main character is a kid, I think a young boy, and he gets sent to the principles office. He sits on the steps outside and waits. I believe he finds/found something he wasn't supposed to. Knowing these books it was probably some cursed item or something along those lines.

There's something about him on a bus I believe, maybe going home from school?

I have a faint memory of him seeing something over the fence of the school but it's so hazy I'm not sure if it's right, less than the other things at least. If this does happen it may be when he finds the item?

That's all I remember! The one thing I know for certain that you can go off of is the cover was the kid surrounded by cans, and maybe other garbage, while the ram (or whatever it's called, I don't know machines) seemed to be lowering over him about the crush him.

I remember reading this series in 3rd grade maybe. The first series was about some guys (young adults???) chasing down some immortal people whose only tell that they were old asf was that their hands matched their age. I also remember one of the books covers was an upside down magicians hat. I also remember that it had a sequel where the mc is named clay (i think?) who is the younger brother of one of the main characters of the og series. I remember that series had a plot about people trying to put dragons in captivity which the mc freed.

Years ago, around 2017 if I had to guess, I read a graphic novel in which a group of high school/middle school kids from the future go on a school field trip to the past. The kids are warned by parents about the Grandfather Paradox, so they know not to change anything. However, they drop escape pods (or something of the like) into multiple time periods including dinosaur times, and when they arrive back in their time they discover that they have caused a chain reaction that removed them and all their loved ones from the timeline. So they have to go back in time again to recover the pods and save themselves and their loved ones.

So. Super long shot here cuz I barely remember anything about this book. It was my grandma's, paperback and like....small in size but long. The cover was blue, and all I remember about it is that there was a little girl, her name maybe started with an S, went to go sledding? on a big hill that was popular? And she disappeared, vanished, no trace. I think maybe her mom and dad break up, then years later mom either sees grown daughter or is contacted somehow by the kidnapper.

Possibly there was a snow storm when kid went missing? And kid had maybe went to the hill with dad, or maybe an older cousin?

Honestly a long shot I know but I remember absolutely nothing else about this book. I was also under 1p when I read it, so.

I remember checking out a book from my school library in about 5th or 6th grade where the main character was a little bit of an outcast who was trying to get a girl to like him. To get closer to the girl I’m pretty sure he signed up to join the school play. I remember distinctly there being a vivid description of a gross cafeteria pizza that was basically liquid, and at some point in the book the main character has to drink the pizza. I know the spine of the copy I read was green. This was the late 2000’s, but if I had to guess, the book was from the 90’s. Years and years of sporadic google searches have given me no further clues. I have to know if this book actually exists. You all are my only hope.

read a story who knows how long ago. i remember a story within the story. someone is telling someone younger than them about a friend they used to have. that friend was from the normal world of earth, but had sort of left their body (this was not ever referenced as astral projection) and was living in the other world (maybe dreams? unsure). the MC (the younger person hearing the story) had done the same thing in the short term, but this long ago character had sort of permanently moved to the other region. the body was in a hospital but during either a war or pandemic, because the body had been brain dead so long, they pulled the plug because they needed the bed. this killed the friend because they couldnt gone on with their body dead. i remember possibly a line like "they couldnt have known ___ was very much alive over here..."

I had started to read a book as a child but never got to finish it and have been looking for it everywhere ever since. I am assuming it was one of my dads old books that when we moved either got donated or is sitting buried in his storage. Was NOT age appropriate for me at the time but I read anything I could get my hands on. The book opens with the main character who lives in what I am assuming is medieval Europe, waking up and describes the smell of straw and their mother breastfeeding. I think the main character was a young girl. Her father had gotten his hand cut off for stealing and was a farmer I think? I remember then the main character and her family went to this festival where her father had tasked her with stealing coin purses while people were distracted with what was on stage. I remember the main character describing how she started to cut the coin purse from a knight and that she had described how she envisioned her hand being like a spider when she stole. To keep it light and to prevent people from feeling. The knight she was attempting to pickpocket notices her but does not seem to notice her stealing and takes her up on to his shoulders so she can see what is happening on stage. She describes the scene as hellish if I can remember? The main character as she is on the shoulders of the knight describes her anxiety of being caught and that the knight might feel the other coin purses she has stolen on her waist. But soon the show ends I think and she is put down and is able to run back to her family. I don't remember reading past that. I can't recall the title/ author or any character names and I can still picture the cover. It was a paperback but I think had those flaps still and was slightly matte.

Looking for a children’s book I had growing up in Venezuela, probably around 1996–2000.

• Format: board book with thick cardboard pages and only a few spreads
• Die-cut edge: the side of the pages was cut along the silhouettes of the animals, so you could see the outlines stacked along the edge
• Flaps: some animals were hidden under cardboard flaps you had to lift or flip to reveal them
• Illustrations: realistic painted animals, not cartoony
• Structure: each double page showed a different biome. It started with mountains with a goat, then a forest in Asia with pandas and tarsiers (those big eyes will never leave me), and ended with the Arctic.
• Cover: I don’t remember it well, but there may have been a panda on it (?)
• Language: Spanish. My mom thinks it came from a Spanish publisher (maybe Susaeta, Everest or similar), but it could also be a translation of an English or Italian book.

Any ideas on the title? Even a lead on the series would help. Thanks!

I can't remember any of the actual story. More than 10 years ago.

The magic/ god/faith system was more complicated then the standard earth/air/ fire/ water. I remember the diagram at the front of the book, and liking how it had more connections than I usually saw. Chaos vrs life, I think they were all split the top half = light & bottom half = dark .

I know that's not much to go on but it's been bugging me for years.

I saw this on tiktok a while back and I can't find the screenshot anywhere! I don't remember much but it was about I think a brother who fed his sister human meat secretly ( possibly their parents' flesh if I recall correctly) and the sister liked it? Even after she found out? Something of the short. If anyone had any idea what I'm talking about please help!!

I know the book is somewhat old, probably 80s-2000s. I remember it from years ago, and while its a bit fragmented this is what i recall: Setting: the world is incredibly old, and there are only small safe paths between settlements. Science has declined, its a lot like a medieval setting. the only hint of advanced tech comes from these ancient artifacts, they are made into tools and more importantly, weapons of war. I'm not sure about this detail but I'm fairly sure that the artifacts only come from outside the safe paths, which is why they are so hard to obtain. The tools of the trade for the warriors of this book are swords, more specifically energy swords. The main character isn't very well off so he has a sword salvaged from an ancient mining drill. (think kind of like Dead Space, a bit different but you get the idea) His mentor/friend/father figure is this mysterious guy, I cant quite remember if he's a wizard because I'm not sure if magic exists/plays a big role; but he's definitely a collector or curio dealer. he has a lot of artifact tech in his shop or house or whatever. I feel like its a hero's journey story because he does start pretty humble, but I'm not sure. the only other stuff I remember vividly is that he is put under some kind of control, either magical or technological. This pseudo-compulsion makes it so that he is unable to harm the guy controlling him, so he uses this to make the MC do his bidding. The last thing I remember is that one of the bad guys henchmen was named "one-eye", because he had one eye.

[EDIT: Solved, it's "The Spark" by David Drake. I was seriously mistaken estimating its age, but other than that it's a perfect match. Unsure what got mixed up in my head with that one]

Hello everybody,

I'm trying to remember the name of a series of books that I read as a kid (in the 90s). They were colorful illustrated children's books and there were a whole series of them with different titles. Here are the details that I can remember:

-They took place on a different planets. If I recall correctly it was sometime referred to the planet by name

-The planet was lushly forested

-The stories featured wizards. There was also a wizards apprentice character who was maybe little and green but wore (maroon/red) wizard robes (named Jeeter?) He often got himself and his friends into trouble. There were also female wizard characters with pointy ears?

-The planet was populated by little "cute" round creatures. In one book the lifecycle of the creatures was detailed:

• Giant sentient trees would drop acorns/seeds. These acorns would develop into the cute small round creatures.
• The round creatures would develop into elf-like creatures like the main wizard's apprentice character.
• The elf-like creatures would grow into wizards
• The wizards would turn into sentient talking trees when they got old
• The trees would drop acorns and the cycle would continue
• If acorns got dropped into the water, the creatures would turn become fish-like

-The wizards could fly. A reoccurring feature of plots was the characters flying together. In one book the wizard's apprentice character tried flying but couldn't control it or something?

-In one book the wizards had some sort of conference or meeting together

-In another book the characters met snow versions of the creatures

-The creatures had cute similar-sounding names like jeebees or seabees for the water versions

-The stories often involved some kind of magical mishap corrected by the elder wizard or some kind of exploration. The stories were positive, aimed at young children, and told in rhyme as already mentioned.

-They were picture books illustrated in a cartoony yet colorful and detailed style.

-At the end of every book there was a photo of the authors/illustrators. I believe it was a married couple and they were always pictured with their two dogs.

I know it's a lot of vague recollections but I remember really enjoying this series and would love to rediscover it and show it to my kids. Any help would be appreciated!

Hello! I have been trying to remember a book I read as a child for decades now. It was about 4 mice getting ready for a party or ball. They each wore a different color: yellow, red, blue, and green. Here’s where I’m stuck - I can’t remember much about the story, but I remember certain things that stood out in my 4 year old mind: the colors of the dresses were beautifully saturated, I think one of the mice was disliked or envied by the other mice in their gowns, and I believe one of their names was Belinda...or Brenda. The four colors of the dresses stands out most. ChatGPT dug deep, but wasn’t able to find the book. I loved this book sometime between 1995 & 2002, and it was available in the Bahamas.

Hello,
I was at a 2nd and Charles the other month but the line was too long so I left the books I was thinking about getting.
One of the books was a YA book with a mostly gold cover. It was a hard back copy of the book. I believe it came out between 2007-2017 but I’m not sure. I didn’t think to write down the title before I left but from reading the cover foldover it was a beauty and the beast retelling or inspired book.
I know the store had a few copies and I could probably find it again if I went back but since the store is like an hour away I’m hoping the internet can help me find it so I can read it.
TIA

In the 1970s I read a paperback novel about a man whose friends have been taken hostage by a Caribbean dictator. The man  learns that the dictator has been double-crossed by another friend who had promised to sell the dictator military technology but took the money and faked his own death to get away with it. The protagonist ultimately joins in with the CIA to rescue his friends. What is the title of this novel, and where might I find a copy?

Read in the early/mid 90s involving different female protaganists. Each book has one girl jumping back in time to a different period/ decade. 1 to the prairie? I remember them having to pluck a chicken and doing it wrong. Another book featured a chunkier blond teenager who went back to the 60s and loved moonpies. I think the books had bright jackets in different colors.

The book is a young adult fiction book between the time frame of 2005 to 2011. Its a textured bluish Grey book. I borrowed it from the library so it had no dust jacket cover. I remember it was a school or camp setting with woods behind the setting and I believe a graveyard. It was a stand alone book no sequals that I know of. Its around the same time as ruined and immortals came out. Ai already gave me those suggestions I dont believe its them tho. 2 main character and I belive the male main was a ghost. My gosh its been year since I read it and now its stuck in my head please help find so I can actually read and remember it this time.

I suddenly had a sliver of memory of a book I read as a teen flash before my eyes.

Im not sure exactly when it was written, it had been sitting in the shelf in my house for who knows how long.

What I can remember is:

There was a boy, maybe a young man. He lives in some sort of futuristic city where there in the middle is like a big virtual reality thing, like computer or machine? and the rest of the city surrounds it.

It's like a thing that people who live in the outer city parts strive to get into? I'm pretty sure the boy or young man has a holographic like sidekick/friend bot type thing that he had since childhood??

It was maybe giving a little bit of "brave new world"

I honestly cannot remember the plot, I would not be surprised if this goes unsolved 😭

Trying to recall a book I read as a child…
-I would have read it some time between 1999-2006
-It had a purple cover with cartoon illustrations
-It may have been published by Dorling Kindersley or sold by The Book People as they were my parents’ main book shopping places
-It explained computers and the internet, including a rather jazzy description of a ‘Webmaster’ and explanations of hyperlinks.
It was a standard size paperback, about 8mm thick

The details I can remember on the cover is a young male seemingly getting chased through the woods in the middle of a snowstorm, there was also depictions of some type of Smokey shadows.
From what I remember of the story itself the MC is a young man who gets marked by something and it gives him magical powers, the mark was described in a way that made it seem like it would be kind of like a Celtic knot in a way, I know that whatever he was considered started with a w, and the power was something that could only go to certain types of people, there were other people with I think similar powers but I think it was depicted more in the Smokey shadows while the boys power seemed to be cyan in color

Hi guys,

I am looking for a book with a magical blue dragon (very big) and realisticly drawn. The dragon comes at night when the kid goes to bed and then takes the child on a dreamlike adventure on its back. At the end, the dragon brings the kid back to its bed.

I remember the book being blue and very detailed.
The dragon was snake like almost, and big.

This was read to me in the late 90s/early 00s. It was a book with a lot of drawings... I'm not sure if the title was about dragons or dreams...

it's not "i hear a noise".
Can someone help??? I can't find it... even ai can't find it lol.