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resolved I remember very little (solved!) Literature
I remember a book from elementary school. All I remember is that it’s about a girl who lives in a rough neighborhood. The other thing I remember is that one of the chapters is called “Under Punishment.” She gets in trouble for going to the library. Sorry it’s so vague. Edit: I found it. Its "The Gift Giver" by Joyce Hansen.
Edited by Gamergirl101openBook with villain manipulating people and events Literature
All I know is that: A) It’s a fantasy book series B) The “main” villain is/was nicknamed something like “The Man with the Pointy Hat”, since he is a wizard archetype C) Said villain is manipulating individuals and events throughout the series, for some strange, mysterious reason
Any help what this book series is please…?
openKids' book with animals with odd naming conventions Literature
In this book, there's a lizard who says that in his family, the girls are all named "Liz" and the boys are all named "Zard". Another character, a snail, is named "Snail-Snail-Snail", because in his family, everyone is named "Snail" as many times as their birth order dictates.
openA book about Chinese animals Literature
I remember reading this book when I was a kid. It was a children's picture book about a little boy in the Chinese mountains who is told by his father about a dragon - he either goes looking for the dragon or is following a lost buffalo... I don't know.
Anyway, he comes upon a golden pheasant, a giant panda and a Chinese giant salamander (and maaaybe other animals... fireflies?)... before finding his way home. The last image of the book is the shape of a dragon in the mountains.
openYA horror novel Literature
A group of teenagers and I think a horror writer go to a haunted house and take turns telling each other spooky stories, each of which take up a chapter of the book. At the end, one of the kids dies and another has their hair turn white from the trauma. I think some of the stories were the classic "babysitter gets a mysterious phone call" and "man with hook hand" urban legends.
openChildren's fantasy book with drawing and dragons Literature
There was a children's book- probably from 2010 or earlier- about a girl in a village learning magic. In order to control the magic, she had to be very familiar with the thing she wanted to control, so her mentor set her to drawing blades of grass and leaves in painstaking detail. At the end of the book, a dragon comes to town and the girl uses magic to fight it. At one point she uses grass to bind the dragon's feet to the ground.
resolved [Solved] Short story (possibly by Edgar Poe) Christmas(?) dinner with host's skeleton Literature
I'm looking for a story which I think I found in an Edgar Poe anthology. A rich man had died, and had written in his will that every Christmas (I think) he would host a dinner for like the ten poorest people. His skeleton was always put in the presiding seat of the table.
One of the guests happens to be a rich businessman, but he's considered the poorest of all once it's explained he's utterly unable to feel any emotion.
Edited by Medinocresolved A native american myth about a boy whose uncles were kidnapped by a witch Literature
I remember an example of And I Must Scream on this site regarding a Lakota mythology story about A boy whose uncles were all kidnapped by a witch and dehydrated. As the vapors entered their bodies, they were restored.
Can any one tell me the name of this myth/story?
resolved 2000s-2010s fantasy series Literature
A book I read in elementary school, the first in a series. The cover shows a girl with a brown braid looking down at a glowing green stone in her hand. I distinctly remember in the book she describes herself as having "knobby knees".
resolved Fantasy adventure story from a textbook Literature
i keep remembering this one story (or was it a scriptplay?) that was featured in one of my school's ELA textbooks, but the name of it is on the tip of my tongue and it's driving me nuts.
the important details i remember:
- the protagonist is a young boy, 10-13 years old i think. the story starts with him in his bedroom, complaining about being bored.
- the boy then encounters a clock-faced dog, who (along with another gentleman character who's shown with them) go on a long sprawling adventure
- the fantasy world conflict is about a rift between the kingdoms of Mathematics and Literature(? it's probably not named Literature but the kingdom name was distinctly reading based).
- aside from the two kingdoms there's also the Doldrums, a land so concentratedly standstill and boring that its citizens nap after every small activity (like taking a single step) and everyone there is described as always sleepy and lazy
- the people in the kingdoms actually feast on numbers and words, the protagonists get invited to a royal event that serves them all kinds of word/number food (words were described as bread/pastry like, while the numbers were glittering and basically rare delicacies)
i'm probably missing so many other important plot beats, but this is everything i can still remember about a book i read in my middle school English textbook.
openChildren's puzzle/hidden object book Literature
This was a book that was in my middle school- it had a lot of beautiful illustrations that doubled as hidden object puzzles and logic puzzles, asking kids to do one thing in the first page and when you go to the answers there was another question that encouraged you to find more things in the picture.
Some pages I remember include: a Seven Dwarfs parody with candy-cane looking trees cut down to cure snake bites
A pirate ship that first had you find "pieces of eight" i.e. objects with the number 8 on them
A gear and pulley puzzle involving an island and a giant fish
An eccentric professor studying some poisonous plants that had you look out for crosses in the center
A painting contest
A sister getting berries to cure her sick brother, with a follow up puzzle concerning a snail
And a Genie that holds a pair of children at swordpoint to get him a lid to his box that needed to be painted with paint and brush that were also in the picture
Any and all help is appreciated
openPicture book (*maybe* comic?) featuring man-eating tree and ants Literature
So every now and then I dimly remember some picture books - or maybe they were comics? - from my childhood in China. The stars were these two kid brothers who usually went around shirtless like Tarzan... I think they might have been lab subjects with Super-Strength or something? (I also think one was brunette and the other blonde, but don't quote me on that.)
Anyway, the art was typical 80s/90s picture-book, but the plots contained a lot of stuff straight from 1900s Lost World pulp fiction. The stuff I remember most distinctively:
- A man-eating tree rapidly digesting a snake
- A horde of man-eating ants that chase after our heroes by rolling into a giant ball
- A frilled lizard depicted as a giant monster with poison breath
It's possible this was a Chinese-original series, in which case the chances of anyone here identifying it fall to somewhere around 0.0001%, but it never hurts to ask...
resolved A Filipino children's picture book about bath Literature
I do not remember the name, but I do remember reading it. It's a Filipino Picture Book about a boy who doesn't like taking a bath. His grandma pursuades him to do it but refuses. He even tricks her one time but really he just wet his hair. Suddenly, he realizes he smells awful and gets mocked by his classmates. He finally tries a bath and realizes the book's aesop. Baths Are Fun.
resolved Please help me! I need to find a book! Literature
It's a non fiction about the writer and his teacher or mentor, a very intelligent man who's mind and memories are fading because of dementia. He gets progressively worse and he even knows it. I read about it on Tear Jerker.
openAnyone know what fairytale this is? Literature
Every now and again I remember reading this epically screwed-up fairy-tale in the Chinese translation as a kid. It's possible this was a Chinese original, in which case I'm screwed on finding the source, but something about it feels like a translated... possibly Grimm story?
Anyway, it was about a little girl on a farm who was just screwed from day one: a toad stole her beauty, a goose stole her intelligence, and an old witch her strength. Her parents, with a daughter that was all but useless, tied her up in the yard to use as a scarecrow. There was a happy ending with a prince on a white horse carrying her off, I guess, but I don't remember the back half clearly at all...
Ring any bells for anyone?
openSuperman origin story. Literature
Picture book aimed at children. I try to look it up and get others like it... but. I specifically remember the version where Lara shoots down going on the rocket because it's set up for one, and the description of how the young Clark could see further than Martha using her "field glasses." That phrase, "field glasses."
There might have been another one about the origin of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, with the crashed spaceship.
Looking for a title, publishing information. Something to find this exact one.
Edited by Caswinresolved A book about the story of arachne Literature
I vaguely remember this book about the story of arachne ( a human turned into a spider by athena). Athena turns her into a spider because she felt death was too good for her hubris. The book repeatedly says "spin,spin,spin"
At the end of the book, Athena is literally describes as a bitch and a witch. The book outright says "she is no heroine".
Does anyone else recall this book?
openkids science books Literature
Series of science books for kids who had distinctive covers with the subject of the book "ripping" out of the page.
I think the books were also oversized?
open[SOLVED] [Unknown year] Book with a realistic lion on the cover Literature
I remember reading it a while ago and it stuck out to me, but because of my poor memory, I can't really remember much.
I believe it was set in Africa, and the cast was a group of high school or college students. There was a disease going around that caused peoples' skin to turn to metal or something, I think. I wish I could remember more details, but it's been several years since reading it.
Edited by mitziolet

It was a story about an investigator of some sorts (police private, Suletta forgetta), IIRC, and the story ends with the following (a heavy spoiler, OFC) weird-ass twist: Some guys in a monastery hold Jesus Christ Himself prisoner to prevent Him from kicking off the apocalypse. The investigator (and maybe also some quest companions) free Jesus and goodbye world. IIRC the author is the same as that of my previous Find-a-Work query (this author has a knack for weird-ass twists).
Edited by arisboch