What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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Lightland
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Juvenile Fantasy book that is similar to "A Wrinkle In Time". [s]
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Any chance your teacher is still around and might remember? Do you recall anything about the cover? Anything about how long the book was (thin, medium, thick, doorstop)? Do you recall the ages of the boy and girl? Do you recall anything about the other dimension -- like, were there alien beings or people who used magic or was it basically just like Earth?
I can't track down my teacher. I think the cover had a flowing silky sheet on it. It was a young adult book, hundred pages or so. The kids must have been middle school age. From what I remember there was a dark evil presence in the other world. I don't remember aliens at all but there was a magic element, and I think it was a normal earthly world. Also I just remembered there was something about sleep in the other world. Maybe it was the evil presence could do something to you when you were sleeping or do something with your dreams. It's so frustrating. It's been so long I can't remember.
There are some similarities - could it be Diana Wynne Jones's The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. 1? The first one is Charmed Life and the second The Lives of Christopher Chant - the two books together both have elements of what you're remembering. The publication date is much earlier though and it's not a local author as Wynne Jones is British. :)
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"Gr. 4-7. What if Alice fell down an air vent in a New York City apartment building instead of down a rabbit hole? Collins considers a similar possibility in her exceptional debut novel, a well-written, fast-moving, action-packed fantasy. Eleven-year-old Gregor expects a long, boring summer of baby-sitting his two-year-old sister, Boots, and his senile grandmother. Distracted with thoughts about his father, who disappeared three years ago, Gregor belatedly notices that Boots has crawled into an air vent in the laundry room. He dives in after her, and the two are sucked downward into the Underland, a fantastic subterranean world of translucent-skinned, violet-eyed humans, and giant talking cockroaches, bats, spiders, and rats. Eventually, the terrified Gregor is transformed into a warrior hero who leads a successful battle against an army of invading rats and discovers his father, who has long been held prisoner by the enemy."
Unfortunately neither of these two are it, but they both sound like interesting reads for another time. Thanks for the input though, I'm determined to find this book if it's the last thing do. :)
Were they staying with their grandmother while their father was gone? Was the younger brother maybe nicknamed Mouse? I feel like I read this but I also can't remember the name now.
I don't remember the nickname but it could be. All I can distinctly remember was the dad built something for her daughter, and it was that thing he built that got them to the other place where they would find their dad.
A Dark Traveling by Roger Zelazny?From School Library Journal:
"Grade 6 Up Narrated by James Wiley, a self-described ``normal fourteen-year-old boy,'' this is vintage Zelazny. Jim's sister is a witch, there is an older brother who is living in a castle at the moment, a live-in exchange student who is a trained assassin, and an uncle who is a werewolf. Oh, and Jim takes after him. So much for normal. In Zelazny's deft hands, however, this all seems totally believable, even scientific. Jim's father is the keeper of a transcomp station, a portal to an almost infinite series of alternative universes. When he suddenly disappears under suspicious circumstances, Jim is determined to find him. With the help of his sister and their exchange-student friend, Mr. Wiley is located on a world facing a cosmic confrontation between the forces of light and dark. The narration moves briskly, and the story is economically told. The book is peopled with characters that readers will care about. There are touches of humor laced throughout the action of the plot, and just enough danger to keep readers on the edge of their chairs. A thoroughly satisfying addition to science fiction collections, this might even appeal to readers who think they don't like science fiction. Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc"
One of the reviewers on Goodreads even compares it to A Wrinkle in Time.
Still haven't found the book. Anyone have any more ideas?
'The Other Side Secret by Nina Kiriki Hoffman? She lives in Oregon."Nora's father is a parapsychologist experimenting with new ways of seeing. When Nora's fifteen, she decides to use her father's device, though she promised him she wouldn't before he died. She finds a whole new strange world around her."
I MAY BE LOOKING FOR THIS SAME BOOK: in the book, the main duo are neighbors in rural Iowa. The girl always wears pajamas to school because when she started school she didn't want to go and swore that she'd go in her pajamas if her dad (who's an artist) made her, and has continued to do so since then. The boy doesn't speak around anyone but her after his dad disappeared, and is preternaturally good at knowing when some gets close enough to hear him. He also doesn't personally communicate with anyone else either, and sleeps with both eyes open (doesn't dream either). His dad was an inventor, his mom is a worrier. Both kids are very smart. Artist!dad built a lot of additions onto the girl's house, like a room with glycerine preserved leaf piles and a shifting/spinning mirror maze room. somehow girl ends up in a magic dream world, where there's a dark force that has been erasing the creatures/people there, I think she was pulled in by "the umber bird" which is a bird with feathers of ever color including colors she's never seen before. Possibly she grabbed it to make it explain why it was in her closet, and it didn't mean to bring her along. She gets home that night by going to sleep (and dreaming). I remember more (pretty much the whole plot, that's my super power) but I haven't been able to find it.
This book came up searching for "book" "pajamas to school" "her father" "wrinkle in time":Lightland by Heather McCutchen.
When best friends Lottie and Lewis enter the magical world of LightLand, where distant memories become real again, they find themselves caught up in a battle between good and evil.
Until now, Lottie Cook and her best friend, Lewis Weaver, have lived fairly normal lives in Iowa. But when Lottie's father carves for her a magical box from an old cherry tree, she and Lewis are transported to LightLand, a fantasy world created by the memories of real-world people.
The wicked NightKing rules over LightLand, determined to destroy its citizens by stealing their memories. Soon, Lottie and Lewis are leading the struggle to overcome the NightKing, during which they must confront some painful memories of their own and find the strength to endure the challenge.
!!!! That is 100% the book I was looking for! Thank you!
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Here's the Amazon "Look Inside" preview of Lightland by H.L. McCutchen - Mai's suggestion: https://www.amazon.com/Lightland-Heat...
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Jakob (OP) was last active on the site in July 2020.
Omg I haven’t logged on in years and I just woke up thinking about the book so I decided to look again. Lightland by Heather McCutchen is definitely the book. Thank you so much everyone!!! It’s been so long that now my daughter is old enough to read the book. I will be going straight to amazon now.
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What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Lightland (other topics)Lightland (other topics)
The Other Side Secret (other topics)
A Dark Traveling (other topics)
Gregor the Overlander (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
H.L. McCutchen (other topics)Heather McCutchen (other topics)
Nina Kiriki Hoffman (other topics)
Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Suzanne Collins (other topics)
I'm trying to remember the title of a book that I started back in 2006. From what I remember the story revolves around an older girl and younger boy that I think were brother and sister. The boy never talks in public because the father went missing. The father built a pine box or something that ends up taking the kids to another dimension or realm. I never finished the book but I think it was going to end up with them finding the dad in that other dimension. When I googled the plot I found it to be very similar to the book, "A Wrinkle In Time." The plot is similar but I thought the book was fairly new back in 2006. I want to say the title has something to with enchanted or charmed. I can't remember anything else about character names or the plot. Also I thought my teacher mentioned that we were reading it because it was a local female author. I went to school in Iowa so she may have been an Iowan author. Any help would be awesome, I've been looking for a decade to no avail.