Andria’s Comments (group member since Jul 03, 2012)

Andria’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

link for Jamie's suggestion: Elfin

Just throwing this out there, some parts match, others not so much:
Some Small Magic

Here's a list that might help: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

You're welcome! Happy to help. I'll move this to solved for you.

Kind of sounds like Dying to Know You, but not all the details match.

Confessions of a Teenage Baboon or something else by Paul Zindel? He grew up in Staten Island and most of his books are set in and around that area, and mostly feature disaffected youth.

Perhaps: Sands -- seems to have both a desert setting and giant birds that are ridden upon.

Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships?

Yay! Happy to help. Here is the link for your book: A Question of Happiness

Yes, Randy has some very weird stuff with an isolation tank! Here is the link for: Head On!

Happy to help!

Another possibility is John Benton -- very similar genre, but his books always had a scene at the very end where the protagonist finds God and repents their sinful ways.

I would guess something by Jack W. Thomas. I think the one with the gang rape in the van is Randy but that doesn't fit the rest of the plot you described. All his books were pulpy, exploitative, and grim.

I believe these are the books by Janine Boissard. A Matter of Feeling is the one that I remember most from my childhood, but I don't believe that's the one you specifically mentioned. She wrote several books about this family, though.

possibly, Pantomime?

Caraval for Carly's suggestion - although that is a 2017 publication.

Sounds like The Forbidden Stone

You can ask your public library if they participate in an interlibrary loan program where they can borrow from other libraries outside of your area. Cubby in Wonderland was reprinted in 2001 and there are several libraries that own copies, according to Worldcat.org

The Devil and Winnie Flynn is about the legend of the Jersey Devil.

This is Escape from Nowhere. The opening line is "Call me Carla," and she goes on to reference Moby Dick.

Margaret, Frances Farnsworth wrote a bunch of stories about adventuring bear cubs, so if Tike & Tiny isn't it, maybe check out her others, such as Cubby in Wonderland - which I think features just one bear cub and his momma bear.

Some other suggestions: Guitar Highway Rose; Jump; The Night She Won Miss America