What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Ok so I know very little about the book itself, I'm pretty sure it was sci fi and I'm almost certain there was a black and white spiral on the cover, possibly with a bird as well? I think the main character was a younger boy. I think there was time travel or worlds travel or something. I was in about 5th grade when I read it (so like 1997 ish) and I remember it left me feeling weird. I wish I had more to go on but thats about all I remember (I was home for a week with a stomach virus and read it while the light fixture was out in my room so I had a dull lamp, overall weird memory but it's driving me crazy!) Hope someone can help me! Thanks!

Was it a new or recent book in 1997? Or older?

I feel like it was an older book at the time. The one I read was a library book, hard cover.

Results to browse on time travel--juvenile fiction. Covers are on various sites, try Google Images to quickly find it (title and author in quotes).

thanks for the link, i went through all of them and it doesn't seem to be there. I think I know too little for this to be found, unless someone just knew it offhand.

Someone who's seen the cover should recognize the description. Bump up every month or so. :)
Someone may come across it when browsing.

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle?

A Wrinkle in Time for a cover similar to what was described. But I don't think that's it.

yeah it's definitely not a wrinkle in time, I've read that also, I know that this one is something different.

Probably not, but... The Space Ship Under The Apple Tree ?

again no, but thanks so much for helping! I will try and give some more details of the book, although I am not certain about any of this!

I think that there was also something to do with a town getting ready for some sort of war, it was a fishing town (in an older time) so they were preparing all of the boats and the boy was running around maybe trying to play and I think talking to a little girl that he liked. His mother (or some parental figure) was trying to explain to him what was going on but he was young so he didn't really get it.

I also think that you get to see the boy throughout different ages, and that may have been a flash back. But from what I remember I don't think you see him as an adult or anything, maybe late teens?

Now that part could be from an entirely different book which is why I didn't originally say it, but I think its from the same book. I'm sorry that I have such little to go on!

I believe the title was also relatively short. It was a book that I picked from the library because the title and cover caught my eye. We had to pick one for a school report. I always liked parallel universe type stuff so it would have been apparent from the cover that the book had some weird stuff going on! But I do really think the title was short, two or three words maybe.

Jennifer wrote: "Ok so I know very little about the book itself, I'm pretty sure it was sci fi and I'm almost certain there was a black and white spiral on the cover, possibly with a bird as well? I think the main ..."

Possibly something by William Sleator, like The Green Futures of Tycho

It was an older book, I read it in 1997 and the book didn't seem brand new at the time.

Though the link shows that "Green Futures" was published in 2005, it first came out in 1981.

Oh I see, I read the description too it wasn't it, but thank you for your suggestion!

I don't know how close a match the plot is, but your description of the cover made me think of A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg.

that's not it either, but it looks really interesting!

I drew a super rough sketch of what I can remember the cover looking like… I am very certain about the spiral, pretty certain about the bird of some sort, and unsure about the boy/person being on there. The top and bottom I believe were a solid color and the font was just a simple bold font. again i'm pretty sure the title was only 1 or 2 words.

I'm going to bump this up again in the hopes that someone somewhere knows this book!!

Jennifer, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

Jennifer drew a nice sketch of the cover @18 so hopefully someone might recognize that.

I am still looking, thanks for coming back to this!

Your sketch of the cover (message 18) is a great idea!

Thanks! I know that my descriptions above are a little all over the place so I'll quickly summarize the very little that I know again…

It definitely involved some sort of time travel, or traveling between worlds. I believe the main character was a teen boy. He possibly had a flashback from when he was a little boy about his community prepping for war on a coast with ships, and there was an interaction with a little girl and his mother explaining something to him that was hard for him to understand.

He possibly had an older mentor, or mission to complete, which is why he was traveling.

And I'm pretty positive that the title was super short, like 2 words.

I read the book in about 1997, it was a hard cover library book, didn't seem to be new. Pretty positive it was young adult science fiction.

Maybe scan the covers on this list?
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Not exactly like you described the cover but three word title, bird on the kids hand, and older book.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

A Griffon's Nest (The Sword of Culann #2)
by Betty Levin

Two twentieth-century children once again yield to the power of the bronze sword hilt that this time leads them back in time to the Orkney Islands in the seventh and tenth centuries.
Hardcover, 346 pages
Published January 28th 1975 by Macmillan

Related to Bonnie's suggestion and from another request (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) -- The Sword of Culann (book #1) by Betty Levin? Maritime location.

No it's not any of those, but thanks for the suggestions!

Lost in Cyberspace by Richard Peck?

These aren't quite right, but I thought I'd throw them out there.

It's definitely not A Wrinkle in Time, although I know how similar the cover description sounds! I have read that book as well so I know it's not that one. It's not Lost in Cyberspace either. But again thank you for the suggestions!

I wish I had more to go on! I don't even have an exact decade or even one character name. I keep trying to pull up something but it was just so long ago that I read it!

What country were you in when you read this book?
What language?

Do you remember how the bird fits into the story?

I'm in the US, read it in English.

I honestly don't remember the significance of the bird. I wish I did, I'll think about it.

I do remember very specifically choosing the book from the library. I picked it because the spiral extended to the spine so you could see it stand out on the library shelf. The title also intrigued me. It may have been written in a bold blue font on the spine. I was in like 5th or 6th grade and I was a big scaredy cat as a kid so the book/title definitely wouldn't have been too scary off the bat because I wouldn't have read it. I think the title implied something about space or time.

I also believe the author was a male

Now I'm intigued and I want to find your cover as well.

Probably not it, but the spiral was so close... and there is a bird on it so I had to post it. The description is way off though.

lol thanks for the help! No it's not that one, I came across that as well in searches.

The spiral might not have been a true spiral, it might have been bullseye style but it was black and white with that same spiral feel. It could have been like a vortex or something. I've tried searching with all these keywords as well (spiral, vortex, bullseye, wormhole) and different types of birds, no luck so far.

A long shot - Warriors of Alavna by N.M. Browne?

Is there a lot of war-time violence?

Does anyone from the present time travel back with the boy?

How did the boy travel back in time or experience the past - e.g., flashbacks while conscious, dreams, fell asleep and woke up in a different place, walked through an X, opened a mysterious X, looked through an X, was knocked unconscious, etc.?

That's not it, I read it in 97 so it had to be published before then and I don't think it was newly published at the time, it was an older library book.

I feel like they didn't travel back in time, I think the past was in flashback form used to help understand how he was feeling in present time. I also feel like maybe he wasn't traveling forward or backwards but to different worlds or places? But again it's just really fuzzy trying to remember details.

I don't remember how he traveled but it possibly could have been with this older mentor and he was confused about it.

I think there was one point where he was knocking on someone's door and waiting on the porch and he was nervous. That situation is in so many books, I know, I'm just trying to recall anything I can!

I also don't think he was with a group of friends or other companions his age, I feel like maybe it was just him and this older guy kind of leading him. I think he was probably in his teens.

I don't think there was a lot of violence, and I don't think it had a focus on war, just that one flashback and the flashback was more about the memory of the girl and how he wouldn't see her after that because his family had to leave or something.

I also think it could have been the first book of a series but it creeped me out so much that I had no interest in reading the others. (It probably wouldn't creep out a normal person, I was scared often as a kid). It was kind of an erie book, but not straight up scary.

Take a look at these lists:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Remember that book editions can have multiple covers too

Those were great lists and I looked through all of them along with the book descriptions but it wasn't on there. Thank you for the suggestions though!

Jennifer, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

I am still looking!

Jennifer ~~
You can "bump" your thread every month or so. This pushes your thread back to the top of the folder instead of languishing here on page 176 where fewer eyes will see it. Get back in the game! Bump!
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Good luck!

Are you still looking for this? Do you remember what section of the library you got it from? Was it a children's book or an adult book?

Into the Dream by William Sleator? Has a young boy and time travel type things.

And anytime I think of YA sci-fi that leaves one feeling weird, I think Sleator.

The Lives of Christopher Chant?

It has a young boy and a mentor jumping between parallel worlds. Some of the editions have swirly covers.

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Jennifer (OP) was last active on the site in March 2019.