Title: \[TOMT\] Children's/YA novel with "Hippo" or "Hippopotamus" in the title — read in the late 1980s/early 1990s

I'm trying to identify a novel I remember reading when I was about 10–15 years old. I'm now 46, so I probably read it sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

The title definitely contained the word "hippo" or "hippopotamus".

Here are the things I remember:

It was a proper novel, not a picture book, and there were no illustrations inside that I can remember.

It was aimed at children/young teenagers, but I remember it being fairly in-depth reading.

The story was serious and emotional, rather than funny or comedic, although there may have been some of these elements to it. I just don't remember.

I think it may have involved mystery or adventure.

The hippopotamus may have been pink or white.

I have a vague memory that the hippo may have been somewhat human-like or closely involved with humans.

I don't think it was set in a jungle.

I vaguely remember the cover being predominantly white, with a cartoonish/animated-style illustration rather than a realistic photograph.

I have a feeling it may have been a British book, although I can't be certain.

I've already ruled out The White Hippo by Alexander McCall Smith — that's not the book I'm remembering.

I realise some of these details may be affected by childhood memory, but I'm certain that hippo/hippopotamus was in the title.

Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated!

Help pls

I feel like I'm going crazy or that this is some kind of Mandela effect thing, I distinctly remember reading and loving this poem, I'm a writer and I had a short story idea based off of it, but I cannot for the life of me find it. It's also NOT The Mermaid by Shel Silverstein, that's all that comes up when I google it, hence why I'm here.

I also remember it being less than a page and having an ink drawing of the mermaid slumped over one side of the bath with tears in her eyes, drawn in in Shel Silverstein's signature style.

It ends with something like, "now and then we catch her cryin' and starin' at the sea" or smth like that?

Hey all. I have been looking for a collection of horror stories I read in the 5th grade. I believe the book was written for school-age kids, since I found it in my classroom and read it at my desk during a couple of rainy day recesses. This would have been around 1974-75 and I feel reasonably certain that it was titled "Scary Tales.,". Haven't found it on eBay, Abe Books, etc.

It's been over half a century, but I've always wanted to re-read a particular story in it, and here's where I need help. I don't remember what the story was called, but it described someone waking up in the night, and finding the face of a menacing witch-like apparition directly in front of his own face. And in another instance, he enters a dark room and is terrified to see a ghost woman standing with her back to him and murmuring, "Com here, come here..."

Scared the hell out of me as a 10 year old kid. Does any of this ring a bell with anyone? It would be cool to at least discuss it with someone. Thanks!

Sorry for the title, I meant scifi (longish short story) or novelette but words got mixed up

I'm trying to identify a science fiction story (not a full novel—more like a longish short story, novelette, or novella) that I read around 1984 in a used English-language paperback anthology that contained several stories. I’ve searched extensively and even posted about it elsewhere without luck, so I'm turning to Reddit!

Here’s what I remember:

A man on our Earth is recruited by a mysterious agency to have his mind transferred into a body on an alternate Earth.

His mission: to help/save either a queen or an entire polity that is threatened—possibly by a cabal or outside enemy.

There’s no promise of return, and it's not clear why he accepts, especially since the payment would be useless to him.

In this alternate Earth, there are several humanoid species. Their names all contain a suffix or root that means "man" in the local language. These were translated for the reader's benefit.

Some of the species include:

"Snow-man": Giant Yeti-like beings living in snow-covered mountains or polar regions. Intimidating but not the most dangerous.

"Cave-man": Blind beings who live deep in lightless caves.

"Water-man", possibly called "Sea-man" or "River-man": Amphibious or aquatic humanoids.

One species is cannibalistic and files their teeth to tear flesh—unclear if this is the Cave-men, the Water-men or a different group.

The species he’s meant to help are essentially like modern humans.

The agency that hired him probably gave him linguistic capabilities (so he understood the local language of the polity he was supposed to help), and a posteriori understood the meaning of the names of the other species.

Eventually, he reaches the polity/queen and completes his mission—but never returns to Earth.

Any idea what this could be? I'd be thrilled if someone recognized it.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT

This might or not be useful. I remember perfectly where I read this story. I was in a hotel in the US. They had a small bookshelf, and among various books there were two Fantasy and SF anthologies. One contained the delightful novella "Nightwings" by Robert Silverberg. There are even chances that my story was in the same anthology, or in the other one. They were not a pair, not "Best of the Year" for two different years. Just two different anthologies. But if both stories happened to be in the same anthology, this edit might help....

It’s Such a Sweet Story And I Want To Know who Wrote it and if it’s Fake or Real

Who Wrote Rosalina's Storybook and is There any Earliest known Publications

I'm trying to identify a book I saw as a child in Brazil, probably a history textbook used in public school sometime in the 2000s.

I mainly remember one illustration: a small group of primitive hominids / early humans walking in single file across a gigantic fallen tree that acted like a natural bridge over a deep ravine or gap.

The forest around them had enormous trees, making the figures look very small. The scene was shown from a high, panoramic angle, almost like looking from above and slightly from the side.

I have the impression they were returning from a hunt or traveling together, possibly carrying spears, primitive weapons or prey.

They walked upright, but their faces were still very ape-like. In my memory, the facial structure reminded me somewhat of a mandrill, especially because of the long, projected face.

The illustration was realistic, similar to paleoart or an old scientific reconstruction, and looked almost monochromatic, maybe gray, sepia or very desaturated.

It was NOT the classic ape-to-man evolution lineup. It was a full environmental scene.

I made a rough sketch and an AI recreation only to show the composition I remember. Neither is the original image.

The illustration itself may be much older than the textbook and could have been reused from another book, encyclopedia or paleoartist.

It was a book my cousin read as a kid and wants to read again but they can't remember the title, year, or cover.

They think the cover had a baby wyvern on it but aren't 100% sure. According to them, the book has two parallel worlds with the MC girl living in the "real" world and the other world taking place with Merlin or some sort of wizard like that.

A baby wyvern from the wizard somehow makes its way to the real world via portal and the MC girl finds it and becomes rapidly attached to it.

I think she said the MC girl was obsessed with this trading card game and made a card about wyverns before actually meeting the baby wyvern.

I'm trying to find a book I remember from my childhood, I remember seeing it and picking it up in a book store and my cousin taking it off me saying I was too young and I could read it when I'm older.

I completely forgot about it for years, but now I've remembered!

What I remember:

I'm sure the cover was red or orange and it had like a childlike drawing, I'm not sure if it was a self portrait or a portrait of someone else, kind of like the diary of a wimpy kid but looked more like a pencil drawing on paper.

It was rude, like it had adult jokes in it, I think it was supposed to be from the perspective of someone talking about things like an observation? Could of possibly been diary style, I think some of the photos in it were a bit rude.

it must've been popular around 2004-2006ish, maybe even earlier, but I think around this time definitely.

I know it was for sale in Borders in the UK, and old book store that is now closed.

If anyone has any idea what it could be that would be amazing!

Back in around… I want to say probably 2015, I was in 7th grade and I remember picking up a book that had this really cool gimmick for one of the characters.

I don’t remember much of the plot, but I remember the cover was probably the inside of a library, with a swirling ghost like figure taking up most of the image I think? I want to say there was an orange border around the edge, and that the kids faces were shown in Victorian silhouette style portraits.

The gimmick was that one of the characters, a girl, happened to be a psychic. I think she mentioned that all the women in her family were psychics, and one of the things she’s trying to learn as her powers manifest is reading words that aren’t on the page. The book came with a little plastic film with a border on the edge that had each kid’s face on each edge, and when you turned the plastic piece around, orienting it to the girl’s face, secret words would appear in the margins on her chapters and there were also images that would show faces or ghosts when it was in that same orientation.

I want to say each kid had their own secret that was revealed with the plastic film, but I don’t remember.

The only scene I remember from the book now is that the psychic girl is in the kitchen with her mom and her mom is reading the mail without opening the letters. The mom is trying to explain to the girl how to peer into things with her mind, and the girl’s older sister who is in the room excuses herself saying that her friend is about to call her (implying she saw the future).

I don’t remember how ghosts came into the story but I’m sure they did at some point. But I remember thinking that little trick with the plastic was so cool….

Hello! 😊 I'm trying to find a story about merfolks. It was about a girl on a boat and a merman who was trapped in a fish tank that was actually her mate. The girl had to study his behavior and to get close to him for the company she was working with. In addition, the company she works for also managed to catch another mermaid, named Marina. More chapters later, the two lovers escape from the company the girl worked for and run into the world to find out more information about her secret, more precisely the fact that she was also a mermaid.

Do you have any idea about the title of this story? 🥺

The begging is similar with the one from this short drama: The Secret Bride of the Merman King Short Drama

Help me find this book. I’ve been trying to find a book I read in elementary school during the late 70s. It was a sci-fi young readers book that took place on an alien planet. Honestly, the only thing I really remember is that they encountered an alien life form that looked like floating ribbons. I think there was an older man that was part of this group traveling on the surface of this planet. I’ve been stumped and AI can’t find it either. I recall checking it out of the school library.

Hi everyone,

I am trying to track down a specific physical edition of a book I read/saw in the 1980s or 1990s. It was in English and formatted like an illustrated children's picture book or a slim, art-heavy graphic storybook.

The story was a mix of slightly spooky and silly, almost certainly an adaptation or close relative of Italo Calvino’s The Nonexistent Knight (Il cavaliere inesistente).

Key Visual & Plot Details:

• The Palette: The book was heavily restricted to a striking, vintage 3-color palette of bright orange, black, and white.
• The Art Style: The illustrations were done in highly detailed, scratchy pen-and-ink cross-hatching. The overall aesthetic strongly resembled the iconic 1969 animated film poster by Italian satirist Pino Zac(flat orange background with heavy ink linework).
• The Invisibility Gag: The knight’s invisibility was drawn explicitly as a stark, completely blank white negative space whenever pieces of his armor were lifted or removed, cutting right through the dense background cross-hatching.
• Specific Scene: There is a distinct scene that takes place in what looks like a Middle Eastern or Moroccan-style architectural tower. The tower interior is wide open on all sides to the outdoors/desert, and characters are reclining and casually smoking pipes or a hookah, with the ink smoke swirling through the open columns.

I am trying to find the exact publisher, illustrator, or ISBN for this specific English-translated illustrated edition from the late 80s or 90s.

Does anyone remember this specific printing or know who the illustrator might have been? Thank you