What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
A Home for Jessie
SOLVED: Children's/YA
>
SOLVED. Middle Grade book. Boy almost kidnapped from a phone booth, possibly looking for a lost dog. Read before 1994. [s]
date
newest »
newest »
In the attempted kidnapping scene, eventually the pedophile dude walks away from the booth. An old lady starts banging on the door telling the boy to come out because she wants to use the phone, but the boy is still afraid because he thinks the man may still be lurking nearby.
Yeah, definitely not that one.The attempted kidnapping was only a tiny part of the book. It wouldn't have been mentioned in the blurb. The main story I think was about a dog,
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Possibly The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Marc Haddon?
Thanks, but no. That's an adult book published in 2003.My book was a middle grade book written before 1994.
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
I think it was a black dog, maybe a mutt? Can't remember if the dog was male or female, but possibly female. I remember a bag of puppies being thrown into a river. Maybe they were the lost dog's puppies.
This may not fit at all, but Answers to Brut's description is Kel didn't mean to steal Caspian's bull terrier, Brut, only to borrow him for the weekend. But Brut disappears, and Caspian's efforts to get him back lead him into a dangerous and sinister world. (via Google Books) It's an Australian book.
Do you remember the cover? Did the boy have any friends or classmates? Why did the boy run away from home?
Not it, but good thought. I don't think the breed was anything as distinctive as a bull terrier.I don't remember the cover. I can't recall the boy having any friends or classmates. I'm 80% sure that he was running away from home because he was looking for his lost dog. But I don't think the whole book was about him running away. That may just have been a few chapters.
The frustrating thing is that I thought I saw the book once on Goodreads, but I didn't shelve it and can't find it again.
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Probably not. I don't know where I would have found a Christian book at that age.But I did sometimes have people bring me books from other countries, and this was definitely British. I wonder if maybe it was only pubbed in England and not the US.
This looks like a cute story, but unfortunately not the right one. Thanks for the suggestion!
Creepy pedophile bump....
Phone booth pedophile bump....
Creepy pedophile bump....
Can probably rule this out; Hoby & Stub can't seem to find a copy. Might be in a library though. https://www.worldcat.org/title/hoby-s...Published too late but maybe the lists linked on the page will help ...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
In Morpurgo's Born to Run the boy saved puppies from a canal. Published too late.
Answers to Brut is about a white bull terrier. Good story but not it. The below, ta-da!A home for Jessie by Christine Pullein-Thompson is about a black Labrador retriever.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
I have read this one but forgot details, however on a hunch found a plot summary here: http://www.loganberrybooks.com/stump-...
Use your browser's find function to search for Jessie.
The pup was rescued from a sack in the river.
It is set in England. Jessie later becomes lost.
A Home for Jessie
Excerpts with booth. Called home ... nasty character. Clear the search field and enter booth. It will bring up several excerpts, all of which you mentioned.
https://www.google.com.au/books/editi...
Various book covers: https://www.librarything.com/work/114...
This should now be solved beyond a doubt ... spent most of the evening thinking and searching. :)
OMG, bookel, you found it!!!A Home for Jessie is the right one for sure. I have indeed seen this book on Goodreads before, but the default cover doesn't ring a bell. None of the others do either, but it's definitely the correct book.
Behold the phone booth pedophile!
"No thank you," Matt shouted. "No thank you . . ." and he could hear the panic in his voice echoing in his ears. Then Jessie raised her voice and the snarl in her throat turned into a growl so vicious that the man released Matt's arm and Matt started to run down a long street. But he knew the man was following, walking fast, his feet steady and even on the wet pavement. Matt hauled Jessie after him into a telephone booth and the door slammed shut ... He looked at the list of codes framed on the wall and dialled home, but all he could hear was the engaged tone repeating itself over and over again. His heart was thumping and he thought, Mum's ringing the police, but she's going to be too late because I'm going to be kidnapped. Jessie looked through the glass at the man outside, her lips drawn back in an angry snarl. Matt put down the receiver and then tried again. And as the traffic roared by he thought, I could scream but no one would hear me ...
"You're not my father. And if you touch me my dog will tear your heart out," said Matt, returning to the booth with Jessie, wedging his foot against the door, dialing home again . . . praying that his mother would be there.
This time she answered and Matt shouted, "It's me. I've got Jessie. I'm in a telephone booth in Oxford and there's a man outside trying to kidnap me . . . What shall I do?"
A woman knocked on the booth door and said, "Are you going to be there much longer? I've been waiting ten minutes."
The tall man had drifted away, but it could be just a ploy to get Matt out into the open again, and because of that Matt was not moving from the booth until he saw his mother in her bright red car.
"You can't shelter from the rain in a telephone booth. I've been waiting ten minutes to phone," the woman repeated. "I'll fetch a policeman if you don't come out."
Thanks mucho to everyone who helped! Case closed!!!
Oh good grief. I got this from a Little Free Library in April 2020, but never ended up reading it and eventually put it back. I was curious about this post's solution too; I could have solved it YEARS ago if Id just spared an hour or two back then??Glad it was found, though!
Aaaggh, so close!!Lol, I'm definitely glad it's solved. If you ever get a chance to read it, it's pretty good. Just finished it on Archive.org last night. It's part of a series, followed by Please Save Jessie and Come Home, Jessie. I don't think I ever read the sequels, though.
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Please Save Jessie (other topics)Come Home, Jessie (other topics)
A Home for Jessie (other topics)
A Home for Jessie (other topics)
Friska, My Friend (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Patricia St. John (other topics)Anne Fine (other topics)
Kinda vague details on this one. I think it was a British book from the late '80s or early '90s. No later than about '93. I have it mixed in my mind with the Indian in the Cupboard, but I don't think it's one from that series.
The book was middle grade, the boy MC was anywhere between 10 and 12 years. At some point, he runs away from home and is making phone calls from a phone booth. Haha, that's how you know it's from the '80s, phone booths still existed! Anyway, while he's in the booth calling people, a sketchy pedophile dude comes around and tries to entice him out from the booth.
It was a scary scene because it was dark, and the boy was alone, and there was no one else around. The boy calls his mom, and she tells him to stay put and she will come get him. This was only one small incident in the book. I think the boy was running away looking for his lost dog. The book itself may have been about a dog, either a lost dog or lost puppies, or both. I remember someone throwing a bag of puppies off a bridge into the water, and I think it was the same book.
Thanks mucho for any help!