What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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YA Sci Fi. Girl gets on mother's computer at work and meets an alien online via a chat box, alien is always online. Later, they meet. Read 2007-2008. Published late 1990/early 2000s?
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Ryan
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Apr 04, 2021 11:09PM
Read this book in middle school, 07-08, though from what i remember of the technology in the book id say it was published late 90s early 00s. The only things i remember for sure plot wise is a daughter is with her mother at the mothers work when she gets on a computer, a chat box, and meets an alien that happens to be online as well. She begins every conversation of theirs with "are you online?" To the annoyance of the aliens who says "yes, im always online". And once they do meet she is struck by the aliens voice, which sounds like he has a harmonica stuck in his throat.
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Yes! It was a 1940s radio play called The Hitch-hiker (the more obvious the title the harder it is to find) adapted into short stories and a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone (the commenter was right on that hunch)
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I added some details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.
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"Read this book in middle school, 2007-2008, though i believe it was published before than based on the technology mentioned in the book. Perhaps late 90s.
It begins with a girl, young teen, at her mothers office while th Ed mom is working late. She gets on the computer and gets in a chat with someone claiming to be an alien. Through many conversations, each beginning with the girl calling out to see if the alien is there, they begin to build a friendship. The alien eventually comes down to visit earth, the only detail i can remember here being the aliens voice sounding like it has a harmonica stuck in its throat."
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"Oh wow, yes! Id have to pick up a copy to be sure, but it sound right! Im surprised how early it was published, i could have sworn it was late 90s in nature. Then again i was like, 11, at the time, it was probably all the same to me.
But thank you! Its far off from anything i would have guessed the title be, so i wouldnt have found it any other way. Thank you!"
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"Google Books has a snippet preview of The Computer Nut by Betsy Byars - Becca's suggestion. You might get lucky searching for keywords:
https://books.google.com/books?id=WOZ... There are different cover images.
The Kirkus Review has a lot of details:
"Kate draws a self-portrait on her doctor-father's computer—titled (for a school assi4gnment) "Self-Portrait of a Computer Nut"—and gets a message from an unidentified someone or something, who on next contact calls himself an extra-terrestrial, BB-9. A hoax? A mysterious admirer? Best-friend Linda's wacky ideas for eliminating suspects shame and embarrass Kate—but secret, overweight crush Willie Lomax (victim of an accidental dousing in flea dip) gets interested nonetheless. BB-9 can also be contacted on Willie's Apple; he seems to be able to read minds; maybe he is for real—and coming to earth imminently, as he says, for firsthand experience "IN EVOKING LAUGHTER." What's more real is Kate's discomfiture: she's down on Linda ("Kate, I can't help being funny"), at odds with her family ("Dr. Morrison sighed"), edgy with Willie—whose self-mocking wit makes him very likable, and hard to perturb. Then Kate and Willie meet BB-9, as arranged, in a burger joint: a quasi-kid, with a mechanical voice, who's already alienated himself by cracking weird extra-terrestrial jokes that no one gets. ("I SAID TO THE WAITRESS, WHAT WEIGHS TWO THOUSAND POUNDS, HAS FOURTEEN LEGS, THREE HEADS, AND GOES ERRRRRRRRP? . . . A CRUSTACEAN MONSTER WITH INDIGESTION.") ..."
