What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
► UNSOLVED: One specific book
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Fantasy. Unhappy boy turns himself into a gas pump (commits suicide) by doing weird things (e.g., stands still, sticks 2 fingers in ears, swallows abacus). Possibly a Short Story collection. Late 1980s/early 1990s.
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God, that sounds bizarre. No idea, but now I have to know what it is.Petrol pump = British?
No sorry gas pump. Definitely a U.S. book.
I've been looking for this book for years too, it's my white whale, so to speak! It MAY have been part of a collection of short stories as I don't remember the story being very long, one thing that clearly sticks out is the boy getting kicked in the shins by his first customer as he is too nervous to emit any petrol and the bit with the abacus swallowing (which is what creates his price display) At one point I thought I'd imagined this book so it's great to see I'm not mad!
Did OP ever verify whether this is a picture book, a short story, or a novel?
I’ve seen this asked about in other places. It’s a picture book, apparently. Possibly not the only story in the book.
Do you know where else it's been sought?
Rosa wrote: "Do you know where else it's been sought?"I found these searches:
https://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...
https://amp.reddit.com/r/whatsthatboo...
https://twitter.com/tuuunuuut/status/...
I know OP thought it was an American book, but based on everything other searchers are saying, it's gotta be British.That would fit with the terminology, too. "Petrol" isn't a word used in America.
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Still no idea what this book is called but I have a bit more information, namely during the book he befriends a streetlight who also used to be a human, and at the end he gives his parents free gas (and also spits out free money.)Apparently it was also a fairly short picture book and not part of a collection.
To be honest, this sounds like a Paul Jennings story to me. Not one I remember, but that style. Check out his books.
Sarah wrote: "To be honest, this sounds like a Paul Jennings story to me. Not one I remember, but that style. Check out his books."Sadly, it's not Paul Jennings. It definitely is his style though, I agree
I hope we can find this! It just sounds so bizarre, and so many people remember it.
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I added some details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.
We totally need to find this. There are multiple people invested in this weird-sounding book, lol.
Could this be another Polybius? Someone asked that very question in May... http://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/pet...
Hey, heads up- they finally, FINALLY found this. I can't take credit for finding it, a commenter called G.H. Kuiper on a video Whang made about it found it, but it's called "De geheimzinnige benzinepomp". There seems to be no way to order the book online but hopefully this brings some closure.
Whoa, it's found!!! I can't believe it.
Hey Dean, you seem to have bought the only copy on Amazon! we're both on Somethingawful, could you maybe scan the book and create a thread there? Or upload somewhere and send me the link? I'd really like to read it again!
Gavin wrote: "Hey Dean, you seem to have bought the only copy on Amazon! we're both on Somethingawful, could you maybe scan the book and create a thread there? Or upload somewhere and send me the link? I'd reall..."Hi Gavin
Not sure if you saw my update on SA but the seller contacted me this morning to say that the book was missing 2 pages and they've sent it to be pulped. I asked if there was any way they could get it back, stressing it seemed to be one of a kind but they just confirmed in the last few minutes that they can't
So disappointing!
Good news is that supposedly some scans of the Dutch version will be made available soon. See here for more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/Whang/commen...
Can this be marked solved? I'm so happy it was found, and really upset that the one English copy in the world was destroyed!
Rosa wrote: "the one English copy in the world was destroyed!"Was this tongue in cheek? I have a few of those Reading Bear books, Super Giles among them (Yes they're pretty bizarre) and my copy is definitely not destroyed nor the only one in existence. I'm sadly not as active on gr as I used to be.
What?! Would you scan it and post it somewhere? If you could only see how desperate the Redditors are! Someone said they'd pay for a scan of the English copy, they're so desperate!
And why are you only surfacing now?
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What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Super Giles (other topics)De geheimzinnige benzinepomp (other topics)
On Meeting Witches at Wells (other topics)
I think this was one of my younger siblings' books from the late 80's early 90s.
A boy decides to turn into a petrol pump as he is unhappy with his life. This slowly happens when he stands still, sticks 2 fingers in his ear, is made to swallow an abacus and more weird stuff. At the end his parents come along and pump gas from him without knowing it is their son.
Does anyone remember this book so that I can convince myself that I did not make this up?