# The Official " Identify from a vague desciption" thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 20, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690 "2002-09-20T00:52:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/1 "2002-09-20T00:52:31Z")
Let’s have a special thread for all the half-remembered songs, books, movies and TV shows… where they can all gather and get the attention they need, and don’t get in scattered threads. Give a vague description, and maybe someone will identify it! In theory 😛 I
To kick off the thread:
This is a sci-fi/fantasy novel published no later than the first half of 1996. A young woman lives in a time and place where magic is completely forbidden, and outlawed by the ruling class. Her aunt is magical, either a fairy, elf or witch, and gets locked up in a closet, where they intend for her to stay until she staves to death. There are some beheadings, too, in the public square. A ribbon might have some significance, but I’m not sure what. The girl has to decide if she should stand up to someone for something to do with magic. It’s at least 700 pages long, in hard cover. I thought the title had something to do with the word Ilumination, but it doesn’t appear to be the case, at least from reading the descriptions of books with that title.
Anyone have an idea what it is, or just another thing for us to puzzle out?
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/2 "2002-09-20T01:48:49Z")
Sounds like I Dream of Jeannie 😃
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### Author:  [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/3 "2002-09-20T02:58:04Z")
So would that make this the “Very Vaguely Descriptive Thread” then?
[sub]Sorry, haven’t heard of the book, though… got a movie only three people have ever seen? I’m probably two of 'em. :)[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/4 "2002-09-20T03:10:10Z")
Can’t place it either.
But I do have a song. Early 80s recorded off the radio in San Francisco. One that played a lot of New Wave music. Here’s what I remember.
“Because you’re hot. You’re hot. I love the stuff you got. No other girl can turn me ahhh-o-on.” and “Because you’re sweet. You’re sweet. You’re such a sexy treat. You are the one that turns me ahhh-o-on.”
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### Author:  [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/5 "2002-09-20T04:17:19Z")
**Osiris** - Google turns up [_Hard to Get_](http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/misc/hip-hop/hrdtoget.htb.txt) by Rick James and Richie Rich. Was this on Live 105 (my favorite radio station until they got rid of Alex Bennet)?
No idea about the book.
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### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/6 "2002-09-20T05:04:53Z")
Thanks Horseflesh. Those parenthesis kept my googles from working. Good work!
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### Author:  [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/7 "2002-09-20T06:11:02Z")
No clue on either of those…
But I do have a vague description for you.
**Children’s Novel**
All I can recall is that the villainess is an older lady who wears glasses, and at one point our heroes (a boy and a girl, IIRC) are in a car chase, and the car behind them has headlights just like the villainess’ glasses. Magic was involved.
I think that’s sufficiently vague.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/8 "2002-09-20T09:28:25Z")
Sounds very vaguely like _Dragonsong_, by Anne McCaffrey, but then it’s been a looong time since I read it.
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### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/9 "2002-09-20T13:08:11Z")
It’s not _Dragonsong_. I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure it’s not that.
Here’s mine: it’s a young adult book, probably from the late 70s or early 80s, about a girl who has a crush on the boy next door. I think his name is Jeff, and the girl’s name is Camilla. Jeff might be a gymnast. They get involved in a musical through school, there’s a party at some point resulting in a broken spinning wheel, and Jeff develops a crush on a guy, whose name might be Phil. There’s some gay-bashing.
Help me out with this one? If I can find out the title, I’d like my daughter to read it.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/10 "2002-09-20T14:01:22Z")
**Bad Horror Film**
I saw about the last ten minutes of a bad horror film. I believe from the '70s.
It was a birds rip off but in this movie all pet dogs went nuts and killed everyone they came across. (even little tiny yippy dogs) It was very funny seeing a large group of people fleeing about 4 dangerous dogs and about 20 dogs that really wouldn’t be a problem to kick. At the end of the film you hear a radio report that the dogs are going back to normal. The camera zooms in a a kitten and the kitten hisses in the worst dun dun daaaaaaaaaa moment ever.
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### Author:  [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/11 "2002-09-20T15:03:43Z")
I noticed that **elfkin** had “Illumination” spelled wrong there. Don’t know if that was a typo or not, but if you search with that spelling you probably won’t turn up much. A quick search on Amazon revealed [_Illumination_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312873891/ref=ed_oe_h/102-1989124-0462505?v=glance&s=books) by Terry McGarry. The hardcover version came out in Aug 2001 but was only 480 pages. The synopsis doesn’t give enough detail to tell if it matches the snippets that you remember.
Okay, I’ve got a book that I barely remember from many, many years ago. I learned to read with this book. I was 4-5 years old so that would make the book at least 30 years old. Children’s book about a dog who’s doghouse gets washed away in a flood. He rides to safety by getting on top of the doghouse and eventually his family finds him and rescues him. The dog was brown and white, and his doghouse was red. Very short, only 10-15 pages, but I would love to get a copy for my kids.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/12 "2002-09-20T15:28:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by LifeOnWry \*
> \*\*It’s not _Dragonsong_. I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure it’s not that.
>
> Here’s mine: it’s a young adult book, probably from the late 70s or early 80s, about a girl who has a crush on the boy next door. I think his name is Jeff, and the girl’s name is Camilla. Jeff might be a gymnast. They get involved in a musical through school, there’s a party at some point resulting in a broken spinning wheel, and Jeff develops a crush on a guy, whose name might be Phil. There’s some gay-bashing.
>
> Help me out with this one? If I can find out the title, I’d like my daughter to read it. \*\*
**Trying Hard to Hear You** by Sandra Scoppetone.
I know because I was in it – all the characters are loosely based on people I knew; it was set in my home town, and we did take part in a musical production of “Anything Goes” that Sandra directed.
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### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/13 "2002-09-20T17:21:51Z")
Wow - this is so much fun!
I’ve read all the vague descriptions and am sorry to say nothing rings a bell. Which sucks because I love to find stuff out for people.
Anyway, here’s my vague description. Maybe even too vague.
Children’s book, published sometime before 1977, and possibly quite a long time before 1977, because I used to check a copy of it out of the library a lot in 1977, and the copy seemed kind of beat up at the time.
Protagonist was a boy, and the only thing I really remember about it was that there was a tree that he went into that had lots of stairs in it. The whole plot seemed pretty trippy to me when I was 7.
The cover of the book was bright yellow, which may not be a useful piece of info, because it could have been a library binding, or it could have been rebound. That’s the problem with tracking down copies of things you used to get out of the library - the trade copies often look quite different.
The only other thing I know is that it isn’t William Sleator’s _House of Stairs_ because someone suggested that to me a few years ago, so I read it but it wasn’t the right book.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/14 "2002-09-20T18:13:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Horseflesh \*
> \*\*I noticed that **elfkin** had “Illumination” spelled wrong there. Don’t know if that was a typo or not, but if you search with that spelling you probably won’t turn up much. A quick search on Amazon revealed [_Illumination_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312873891/ref=ed_oe_h/102-1989124-0462505?v=glance&s=books) by Terry McGarry. The hardcover version came out in Aug 2001 but was only 480 pages. The synopsis doesn’t give enough detail to tell if it matches the snippets that you remember. \*\*
Yeah, my spelling is hit or miss 🙂 I spelled it correctly when I did the amazon search, though, since that was one of the books I looked at and ruled out. Thanks, though!
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/15 "2002-09-20T18:34:56Z")
This thread sparks a memory of a book I vaguely (natch) recall reading in, oh, middle school or so. It was about two adolescent friends (both boys), one of whom was having prophetic dreams that wuld come true in odd ways. I remember a toy train being significant, and an elevator, and that the climax of the book took place in an old house where parts of all the dreams appeared.
I think there may have been little bit of time travel involved, and I’m almost positive one of the boys dies at the end.
Ring any bells?
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### Author:  [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/16 "2002-09-20T19:25:14Z")
**Horseflesh** , I totally remember that book, but don’t know what it was. For some reason I associate it with Clifford, The Big Red Dog. Maybe Clifford rescued the little dog?
**JSexton** , I remember that one vaguely, but couldn’t tell you any more about it than what you wrote.
A great place to research forgotten children’s books is [http://www.logan.com/loganberry/solved.html](http://www.logan.com/loganberry/solved.html)
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/17 "2002-09-20T19:36:52Z")
Okay, try this one. Kids book I read YEARS ago. Something about someone stealing things from a town, but the things stolen were something like a river, a shadow, 4:00-5:00, weird stuff like that. I remember at the end something like a barn or something with all the stolen stuff in it.
Ring any bells?
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### Author:  [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/18 "2002-09-20T19:48:46Z")
**MrVisible** , I believe that may be _The House with A Clock in its Walls_ by **John Bellairs**.
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### Author:  [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/19 "2002-09-20T19:54:43Z")
There are two children’s books I’ve been stumped on for years.
The first was about a girl who finds a dollhouse in an attic. It has little dolls in it that somehow corresponded with “real life” people. As bad things would happen to the dolls bad things happened to people she knew. It was very very creepy and I don’t remember much else about it except that I was totally scared.
All I recall about the other book was an image of a boy flying on an earwig. I think he shrunk and the earwig was like a dragon (or maybe the earwig grew?).
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### Author:  [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-official-identify-from-a-vague-desciption-thread/128690/20 "2002-09-20T20:06:15Z")
Anybody remember a book published sometime before 1960 with a title something like “The Horrible House of Hoten [Horton?]”? It was a book intended for young readers, and involved an anti-gravity substance. I believe the author or the main character had the same name as the actor Peter Graves. I have not been able to find it on Amazon or Google.
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