SOLVED. Children's book about words having value [s]

[Ardie]

This book is either written in English or French. (My customer can't remember in which language she read it.)

This book is about a land where people can't talk without earning or scavenging for words. A poor boy found a word and kept it tucked away for a special moment. He really liked a girl but had no spare words for her. A wealthy boy with lots of words talked to the girl a lot.

*Spoiler*

Somehow, near the end of the story the girl kisses the poor boy, and then he uses the word that he'd tucked away... "Again." (or possibly "Encore")

It's not any of these books:

The Phantom Tollbooth
The Very Inappropriate Word
The Boy Who Loved Words
Max's Words

[Tab]

Does your customer remember how many years ago they read the book? Was it a picture book? If so, were the illustrations realistic, cartoony, bright, etc?

anything about the cover?

[Ardie]

She read it sometime in the past 5 years. I'll check with her and see if there are more details she could provide.

[Ardie]

Here's some further information from my customer. She wrote:

"I don't really remember the cover, but I believe it had lots of grey/black, and sort of sombre nature. It was a picture book, not a chapter book, and again I would say the illustrations were cartoonish with lots of grey, muted, sombre colours and scenes."

Does this ring any bells for anyone?

[Michele]

I really hope someone solves this, it sounds fascinating!

[Sophie]

The part about saving a word to use for later reminds me of The Phantom Tollbooth.

[Ardie]

It almost sounds like a short spin-off of The Phantom Tollbooth, doesn't it. Thanks for giving this some thought, Sophie.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

It appears you're not the only person searching for this book:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

EDIT (new queries):
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Ardie]

Yes, these do look like the same book! Good eye!

You recommended that Lesliehenry's main entry be updated. I'm fairly new to this group. Could you please explain what you mean by that, and I'll update away.

Thanks!

[Justanotherbiblophile]

Ahh, well your request has more details (possible word, etc, etc), was hoping that those came up in her memory (or whoever she was helping?) as correct details - if so, she can click the edit button/link on the main post, and then include those things in the main description.

For example, I think she's pegged two books that the request is not, and those are always good to list in the main entry so that you don't get those suggestions over and over, when casual solvers don't read thru the all of the responses on the whole thread, and end up suggesting something that's already suggested and rejected (and giving details as to why you think a book is not the one you're searching for is helpful for narrowing things down as well).

[Ardie]

Thanks, Justanotherbiblophile. This makes a lot of sense. I've updated my entry! :)

[Michele]

Does the customer have any idea whether the book was a new book or an old one at the time she read it?

[Ardie]

Good question, Michele. I'll look into that and get back with the answer.

[Deborah]

The other tread has been solved with Phileas's Fortune: A Story about Self-Expression if they truly are after the same book.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

And "Phileas" was originally published in French. Hopefully we'll hear back from Ardie.

[Ardie]

This is it!! Thank you all for helping in the hunt, and thanks, Deborah, for passing on the title from the other thread. My customer will be thrilled...as am I. This looks like a very interesting book.

[Kris]

I've been really curious about this children's picture book as well. It's definitely on my to-read list!