This is bound to be the worst description of a book I am trying to remember the name of, so bear with me.
I read it back in 4th or 5th grade, mid 80’s. It was a book for kids about this kid who kept having contact with an alien type thing. He would walk along and then feel his skin get all prickly before being taken aboard a ship (I think, this is the part where it all gets sketchy.) I also remember a scene where he was running through a snowy field and the same basic thing happened.
And, that’s it. That is all I remember. I wanted to find the name of the book, just because I enjoyed reading it and now I have myself all curious.
I actually expect no replies since I offered no overly helpful clues. But, if you can answer it I owe you something. I don’t know what, but something.
… since it’s not really a kids book, and certainly not for 4th or 5th graders, but Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five does feature something similar to all of these elements.
The character of Billy Pilgrim is an adult, but described as being childlike and baby-faced; he is abducted by space aliens (only once, but the abduction is referenced repeatedly); in at least one passage, he realizes the aliens are coming because the hair on his neck stands up and tingles; and there are scenes where Billy is slogging his way across a snowy field in Germany during WWII when the story suddenly switches to him in the spaceship.
Any chance it is this you’re thinking of, and just a few grades off? I could easily see an 8th or 9th grader reading the whole book and only retaining the spaceship parts. Well, that and the “being forced to mate with a porn star” part too.
This is definitely a WAG but I’ll offer it up . . .
Back when I was in elementary school (70s) a teacher read us a science fiction book called *A Wrinkle in Time *. Since I only have a very vague memory of it, I can’t say if it’s close to what you read.
This was *fiction *, right? There’s always the outside chance you’re not remembering a book but actual memories, which I can help you recover for a low, low introductory rate.
That reminds me of The Boy From The UFO. At least, the “prickly skin” thing happened in that book. One image I can recall is the UFO-person proving that he’s real by instantly disassembling a barn (magnetically yanking out all the nails simultaneously).
Was it maybe The Tripods Trilogy with Will Parker and Beanpole trying to escape the Tripods? Where they put implants in the back of their necks or in their heads or something when they caught them?
I checked out Amazon and the three books were The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, and The Pool of Fire by John Christopher.
Well the only other book I can remember from elementary school was something called (IIRC) * GWOT! *, which had something to do with someone eating a big toe. That musta been during the Nixon days. Is Cannibalism still a popular theme in childrens’ literature?
Was * A Wrinkle in Time * any good? I was thinking about reading it and someone told me it was really awful.
Thanks for the replies. That “Boy from the UFO” sounds vaguley familiar as a title, so that may be it. I’ll head to the library with these possibilities and see if one of them fits. Next time my curiosity pops up, I really need it to be more specific.