When you find yourself trying to remember a show (or any works) that's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach, come here - the collective brain of the TVTropes community can probably help. Post all the details you can remember (examples help). If you're looking for a trope, head over to Trope Finder. Have general questions about tropes? Visit Ask The Tropers!
Find a Show:
resolved Picture book about ghosts (Found) Literature
A long time ago, I got a picture book about ghosts that has since been lost. It had 3 short stories in it:
- 1st one was about a small ghost hotel and how its staff must try to stop a greedy businessman from taking over and turning it into his own giant luxurious hotel (with the ghosts as special attractions).
- 2nd one was about a ghost girl attending a ghost school and her efforts to become a proper scary ghost.
- 3rd one was about a ghost man who haunts a small old TV (bought for a boy after his previous one breaks) as he desires to become an entertainer. Problem is, he fails at everything he does.
resolved YA book about an eighth grader accused of child porn Literature
This YA book was written in the early 1990s or before. It’s written in first person, about an eighth grader named Sean. One day, while at a friend’s house, Sean and his friend were taking pictures of his friend’s little sister (I think she was wearing a bathing suit), and she was doing silly things, including kissing a balloon. When the pictures get developed, someone at the photo lab suspects child pornography and raises the alarm. As a result, Sean’s and his friend’s parents have to hire a lawyer.
resolved Elementary level book about gum that makes you invisible Literature
I read a book in 3rd grade about a kid that got a strange kind of gum from a machine, and it was called Gum-X or something like that. It turned out that it could turn him invisible and his older brother used it to prank people without getting caught. And I remember a prank went wrong when he tried to steal an old woman's dentures and she thought that he was robbing her. The art style looked like it was from the 80's to the Late 90's.
resolved library book, name forgotten Literature
I can't remember the name of this book, but the main character was a young man who grew up in a family that raised (?) horses. He took a liking to a blind horse with a name starting from 'B' and promised to buy her or something of the like. But he was too late, and the horse was either sold or given away. He and his mother later heard about a horse that was famous (or something) around the same time horse B was given away. So the young man moves away from his house to work with horses in the city, and is made fun of for his small hands (they're like a woman's hands, I think was the insult), and that he'll never be able to train race horses. But he still manages to anyways? A line I remember from this book is the crowd shooting "Show us the way" during one of his races. He eventually finds the horse he and his mother had talked about early in the book and had the opportunity to race with her. The book ends on a happy note, I think. Can anyone help?
resolved Fourth grade girl named Josie with Bully and Dead Brother Literature
This children's book that was published no later than 1996/1997's protagonist was a fourth grader named Josie who had a best friend and 2 other girls that were close friends. She also had major problems with bullying that year.
The bully's name was Bonnie. Her best friend was Kathleen and nicknamed Haystack Head by the bully. At one point after Bonnie's cat died, she had Josie backed up into a fence and was hitting the fence closer and closer to Josie with a large stick until Josie looked her in the eye and told her she was sorry Bonnie's cat had died. There was hints of Bonnie having abusive parents.
Josie's little brother died when he was hit by a car- I THINK while he and his twin were playing on the front lawn. His twin (I think her name was susie) saw him die and ended up manifesting selective mutism as a result of the trauma
An excerpt from the book from was in American Girl magazine in the mid-to-late 1990s; Josie was depicted as having curly reddish-brown hair
resolved verbally abusive mother Literature
First time trying something like this, sorry if it's formatted poorly! I randomly remembered this recently, but when I was in elementary school (I think), I read a book about a girl who I think was in fourth grade whose mom was verbally abusive. In hindsight, that didn't belong in my elementary school's library, but that's besides the point. I only remember a handful of details, so here goes.
-Like I said, I *think* the girl was in fourth grade, but she might've been in sixth grade. Definitely not a high schooler yet, at least.
-Also like I said, the girl's mother was verbally abusive, but I don't *think* she was physically abusive? Maybe she slapped the girl once, but I don't think so.
-I think the cover was blue, but I might be wrong.
-The girl had an older brother.
-There was a scene where the brother (I think, some male character older than the girl) referred to the mom's 40th birthday as "happy over the hill" or something like that.
-There was a secondhand shop thrift store kinda place where the girl liked to spend a lot of time, I remember she sold a dress her mom wore there and got boots of some kind?
—Related, when the mom found out the girl sold the dress she got really mad.
-The girl really liked caves, there was a field trip where she got to go with a teacher to see caves and her mom threatened to revoke her permission to go I think?
-When the girl told the principal about the abuse, she said her mom called her "stupid" and "dumb shit" (this I remember vividly, mostly because of the swearing when I was younger and didn't know you could put swear words in books).
That's all I can remember, if you know the author or the title that would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Edit: fixed spacing issues
Edit 2: it was Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson! Thank you!
Edited by CupcakeGal25resolved 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?
resolved Young Teens' Book About Race Around World Literature
An American (Californian?) middle school-age boy is drafted into a race around the world, alongside several other children, including a girl named Susie (or Sara or something) from the Seychelles. The racers are sponsored by wealthy royals from monarchies that no longer exist; the protagonist's sponsor was a sheikh/caliph/etc. from a country that was swallowed up by the desert. The losing sponsors had to relinquish their royal claims; the main villain, a poacher (from Europe?), would therefore lose his diplomatic immunity. The protagonist told his mother he was going to summer camp, first traveled on a bus across the US, crossed Russia by train, and, in accordance with game rules, was detained for a day in Japan after trying to enter a subway train without paying (alongside his white drifter companion). The race was titled something like "the Great Global Game", and the initialism was reused differently throughout the book. For example, the protagonist told his drifter friend that "It's the Great Goosey Game, and I've just been cooked." during said subway incident.
resolved Comic - Man joins brand design team Literature
I'm trying to help my brother find something. He thinks it may have been one story in a larger book, possibly one that mixed prose and comics, or not. Here's his description:
Man joins design team finding a brand for google-like corporation
I remember it was in an anthology of the best American works of fiction or something similar. It may have been the best american nonrequired reading anthology. I read it in the last two years and I believe it was published in the last five, but am not positive about the latter. The story is somewhat dystopian - the corporation has become a huge player in world affairs.
The main character is a young man who joins a design team creating a new brand and logo for a google-out-of-control like organization.
During the story the man is afflicted by a mysterious cold-like sickness supposedly cause by plants on the property. He gets medicine from a semi-sinister doctor at the company, which helps him. They tell him that the sickness is due to allergies, but we never get the full explanation.
The main character goes for a swim each day and sees a woman sitting by the pool that he lacks the courage to talk to. During his last swim, he looks up and she is no longer there. He wonders whether he imagined her entirely.
The design team is led by a man who is somewhat obsessed with primality. He leads the team to break in to the headquarters of their rivals in the final act of the comic.
The last scene is the main character looking at a bloody handprint after injuring himself during the break in. He decides that this will be the new logo of the corporation.
Edited by Subsetresolved Sci-Fi book where soldiers are kept in storage and are essentially immortal Literature
I read this book in the 90s, so it was from that era or earlier. In the future, scientists develop transporters, like Star Trek, but they are able to store the "pattern" of a person and then bring them back multiple times. The main character is a soldier who, after every battle, he and the other soldiers are dematerialized, and then when the next war starts, they're brought back to fight in that one. After a while the MC realizes that hundreds of years have gone by, and the people in charge don't consider the soldiers stored in the computer to be real people any more. The climax of the book is MC finding the main computer where the digital copies of all the soldiers are stored and destroying it so they can't be brought back any more. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
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.
resolved Fantasy YA Book With Contagious Turned-to-Stone Paralysis Literature
I'm trying to find the title of a fantasy YA book I read about a decade ago. The basic premise is this: a young teenager somehow gains the ability to travel to a magical alternate world and bring people and items back and forth. I remember three scenes from the book:
- The teenager meets and befriends a girl from the magical world and brings her back to their home in the mundane world, where they show her all the cool modern conveniences that the magical world doesn't have. The girl amuses herself by typing up magical incantations (either on a computer or with a typewriter) and comments on how it's the neater than any calligraphy she's ever seen, but she leaves a sheet with the spells sitting out on a desk.
- At another point in the book, the mundane teenager's mother is cursed/ magically turned to stone while outside in the garden of their family house, and any creature that touches the mother also turns to stone [eventually she's surrounded by a little pile of birds and insects that have landed on her, thinking she's a statue]. Later, an "evil corporate scientist" passes their house and notices a bumblebee that has turned to stone. She wonders if it's been exposed to a new type of pesticide, and collects it for testing. After examining the bee, the scientist returns and snoops around inside the house, only to find the typed out spells. She reads out the incantations and accidentally performs magic.
- Near the end of the book, the scientist uses the typed out spells to blackmail the teenage protagonist.
I'm pretty sure I read the book between 2004 and 2011, and that it was written at some point after 1990. I have no clue if it's part of a series or a standalone novel. Any clue as to what this might be?
resolved Young Spy Girl Goes to Japan??? Literature
I have just been hit with memories of this book i used to read obsessively as a kid. I'm pretty sure it was a series but there's one book in particular i remember and i am scouring the internet but i can't seem to find it anywhere.
ok so it's about a young girl who's a spy/secret agent and she gets a mission where she has to go to Japan and there's one bit i remember where she's on a bullet train and she thinks her blonde hair is making her too conspicuous and she like presses a button on her hat and a black wig pops out under it. she goes to this place where geisha do tea ceremonies for tourists and there's also stuff about traditional japanese beliefs about foxes? the more tails a fox has the more clever it is? or the more sneaky? please help i can't sleep im just thinking about this book
resolved Kid's book with a girl who sees ghosts Literature
This is a middle-grade book which was published no later than 2012. I remember a lot of things about it but nothing that shows up on web searches.
There is a girl who moves with her mom to a beach town and she sees ghosts. I can't recall if this is a new ability or not. There are several ghosts, and one is a slightly-older girl who is still wearing the costume she died in- fishnets are involved. This ghost also dyed the protagonist's hair (blue?), which the protagonist ends up liking and at the end of the book, she and a living friend dye their hair "Screaming Sally's Punk-Rock Pink." Also the girl's mother is an artist who does some sort of beach-themed souvenirs.
I don't think it's Saranormal.
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 Charity as a Disease Literature
It was a short story about a pair of doctors who discovered a virus that made people more likely to be charitable, like how toxoplasmosis makes rats more likely to be friendly with cats (who would then eat the rats). For example, the infected would be more likely to work at homeless shelters, donate to the poor, or *go to a blood drive*. They're just about ready to publish, when an extremely deadly, yet unrelated, disease breaks out and kills one of the doctors. The other doctor decides not to publish, because the charity virus is the only reason the hospitals are getting enough blood, but also a badge saying that, if he gets hurt, not to give him any blood. The story ends there.
I'd greatly appreciate to find the title and author, please.
resolved Children's book with a certain tagline Literature
There's a children's book (a series I think) with a Tagline along the lines of "Are they kids? Grownups? The answer is magic!"
I think they were chapter books, but for elementary schoolers (like Magic Tree House or Junie B. Jones)
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 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?

I'm looking for the name of a fantasy/ fairy tale picture book where a mother has to rescue her son from the ocean. She strikes a bargain with a whale, who asks her to cut off her long, dark hair and weave it into a jacket for the whale to wear in the cold ocean. In exchange, the whale will help her rescue her son. The whale also promises to give her a magic remedy that will regrow her hair after she has cut it off. The mother begins work on the jacket, but finds she doesn't have enough material. She asks the whale for the hair re-growth remedy, and she cuts her hair off again (leaving her bald or with very short, scraggly hair she covers with a scarf). The mother finishes the whale's jacket, and is able to bring her son back home safely.
I do not know when this book was published. The illustrations were mostly done in dark colors, possibly in pastel or chalk (there was a soft, blurry feel to them). I believe there was a mention at the beginning of the book that it was based on an Asiatic fairy tale, but I haven't been able to find any fairy tales that match the story I remember.
Edited by Leporidae