What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Boy Who Had the Power
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Kid's SciFi, Psychic Powers, Circus, Dangerous Grandma. Spoiler ahead. [s]
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Neither of those, as I read it 40 years ago, I'm afraid!
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"This is NOT a big famous book by a famous author (e.g. Sturgeon, Bradbury) ... this is probably a workmanlike book by a pedestrian kid's writer, but it touched a chord with me.
What I can remember:
It's a novel, a chapter book, for kids (tweens, I guess, not that we called them that then).
The plot:
The beginning: an "orphan boy," working at a farm on some planet, runs off to join the circus (which I think is elsewhere, like its own travelling spaceship). He gets a girlfriend.
I cannot remember the middle of the book, but the ending is clear!
And a spoiler, I guess, so here come the blank lines:
SPOILER
At the end, he learns that the old woman at the circus is his grandmother, and she knows all about his psychic power, and she's not nice, and threatens to kill his girlfriend if he doesn't do what she wants--once she turns mean, she talks very hard-boiled which quite impressed me as a child (I think she threatened to "fry" the girlfriend!) Instead, and this is about three pages from the end, he teleports to safety with his girlfriend because his powers have finally kicked in. Furthermore, he can telepathically communicate with his family (he's not really an orphan, yippee) who are coming to get him now that they can sense him. (Like Escape to Witch Mountain, only not).
I read it prior to 1978, and suspect it's written in the 1960s or early 1970s. The cover was purpleish, but that may be the under-the-dust-jacket cover and not the dust jacket itself. I read it in Canada, but it could be from anywhere written in English (and felt American).
If you've read this totally obscure kid's book, I would be overjoyed to know what it is. "
Ashley says this book is not "The Dreaming Jewels."
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I'm still looking for this book. Hardcover, pre-1977 (and probably much earlier), non-famous author, children's SF, psychic orphan boy joins circus. It's a novel, not a picture book.
Begins with orphan boy working at farm. He joins a circus (can't remember if it's passing by on land, or if it's a circus spaceship). The middle's a muddle, but it's all taking place at the circus. His psychic powers grow. He gets a girlfriend. There's a kindly old lady who works at the circus.
The thrilling conclusion is that the kindly old lady turns out to be his actual Grandmother, and she's Mean! She threatens to "fry" his girlfriend unless he does what she asks, but by then his powers have grown enough to zap them both to safety. And then his parents (also psychic) contact him telepathically, all will be well, the end.
It's not The Dreaming Jewels or anything else mentioned. I don't think it's a well-known book at all, it's just a random kids' genre novel that happened to connect with me. 50 years later, there may be no copies left.
Something by Jeff Sutton? https://www.librarything.com/author/s...and Jean Sutton?
https://www.librarything.com/author/s...
It is not The Beyond?
See post 43 here https://www.librarything.com/topic/75287
and a couple others mention teleporting. I recalled the post but no idea if it is your book.
Could it have been The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key? The publish date fits (1965).
Thanks everyone.Not The Forgotten Door, not Star Circus. Not by Jeff Sutton (but the covers look like the right period), not The Beyond. It's definitely a children's book (it was in my elementary school library).
I will look through the list of 20th C kids' SF ... with 600ish titles, maybe it snuck in even though it's not any kind of classic, I'm sure.
There's also by decade, for example:Children's Sci Fi of the 1960s
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
and 1970s (they all link):
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Wait ... maybe The Boy Who Had the Power by Jean and Jeff Sutton after all? The cover looks not unfamiliar, and "a boy who has lost his memory is a herder on a remote planet" is 100% how my forgotten tale begins. (And I'd forgotten he'd lost his memory until I read this synopsis ... so much forgetting).Fingers crossed ....
I've ordered it from abebooks ... thank bookel for pointing me towards Suttons and Rainbowheart for that list. My fingers are crossed!
bookel wrote: "Something by Jeff Sutton? and Jean Sutton?And it was, as it turns out, by the Suttons! Thanks to you I found it! I had a few details wrong (cover is a purple-leaning navy rather than purple, and "Granny" is a nickname for the old woman who turns out to be a great-aunt, not a grandmother, etc.) but it is definitely the book, including, 5 pages from the end, the bit that seared this book into my terrified child-self's heart:
Granny swung the barrel of the heat gun, centering the muzzle between Kathy's eyes. "How would you like to watch her fry?"
Intense stuff for a seven-year old!
Huge huge thanks to everybody (especially bookel) for leading me here. It's not classic Children's Literature, but I'd have otherwise gone to my grave (one distant day) being irked I couldn't recall this particular book.
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What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
The Boy Who Had the Power (other topics)Star Circus (other topics)
Galax-Arena (other topics)
The Green Futures of Tycho (other topics)
A boy with psychic powers on some planet, slaving away at someone's farm, unhappily, runs away and joins a circus. I remember almost nothing about the middle of the book. At the end, the kindly old lady reveals she is his grandmother, but she's not nice at all, and threatens to "fry" his girlfriend if he doesn't do as she commands. Luckily he uses his psychic powers to teleport him and his gf to safety. By now his powers have grown so much that he can use ESP to connect with his parents, and they resolve to find him, hence a Happy Ending.
I remember being startled by how mean, hard-boiled, and ungrandmotherish that character was! Plus, I love circus stories, esp. SF or fantasy circuses, and would dearly love to find this one again.