What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
Marianne Dreams
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Childrens Fantasy book 1960s about a boy ill in bed and bushes outside window take on strange shapes and move. [s]
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Jan
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Dec 31, 2021 01:47AM
Childrens book I read in the 1960s about a boy ill in bed and bushes outside window take on strange shapes and move, it was spooky and strange and thats all I can remember apart from I loved reading it.
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Hello Jan,I take it this was a picture book and not a chapter book? Can you describe the style of the illustrations a little? Very realistic and detailed, or cartoony?
Any chance you remember the illness? (Measles or mumps? Is he covered in spots?).
I know you said you can only remember what you've written, but sometimes questions help jog the memory!
So here are a few more, if any can be answered:
1. Do you remember what the boy looked like? White kid? Hair colour? Approximate age (toddler, kindergardener, grade-school, etc.)?
2. Any chance you remember a happy ending? Teddy bear or parent to the rescue, maybe?
3. Was it daytime or nighttime when he saw the strange shapes? (Were the shapes like living creatures? Monsters or animals?)
4. Remember any medicine being given? Ice pack on the head? Thermometer in the mouth?
5. Do you remember the style of the bed? Four-poster? Brass bedknobs? Maybe the shape of the pillows or the pattern of the bedspread? (You never know - sometimes "patchwork" sticks in your head).
6. Colours? Dominant colour scheme? Were any of the illustrations in black and white? Bright and vibrant colours, like a fever dream? Soft watercolours? Harsh, bold lines?
:)
You may be thinking of Marianne Dreams, by Catherine Storr. It comes up regularly on these forums. Both young protagonists, a boy and a girl, are invalids who seemingly make a telepathic connection in their dreams. I read it when it was newly published, and I still remember the strangeness, the moving stones, the Watchers...eerie.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariann...
Thank you everyone, it was indeed Marianne Dreams and I will revisit it. It must have influenced many a young reader fo it to occur in these forums. I hope it still holds some of the old magic!
Jan wrote: "It must have influenced many a young reader fo it to occur in these forums. I hope it still holds some of the old magic!"It was also made into a film called Paperhouse (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098061/ ) but it wasn't a particularly faithful adaption.
