What is, or how can I find, mysterious children’s book?

October 8, 2022 4:03 AM

Does this look familiar to you? I am looking for a book from which I have one page of text and one image of a white tree and moon against a black background. Google, etc. are leading me nowhere. Chapter 3 Into the Woods I had always loved the city outskirts, the woods in particular with its well thought-out, curvaceous trees. It was a place where I felt at peace. (More inside)

“Aaah, it has been a fine day for wondering, pondering, and wandering,” I sighed with glee.

“Pondering and wondering, careful now…” said Owl.

“What’s the difference? Varying nonchalance?” I asked.

“Well, wondering is more like musing and conjecture; pondering is more pensive, perhaps a bit more grave,” Owl explained.

….

Any bells ringing? Any search terms terming? I have no idea where it came from or anything else about this volume, but would love to track it down. Thank you!

posted by saltykitten to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Can you post a photo of the pages you have? Maybe that will be familiar to a mefite.
posted by citygirl at 6:08 AM on October 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

Seconding the request for a photo, please; someone might recognise the artist.

Is what you have an actual physical page? Can you tell us how you happened upon it?

The language reads a little strangely to me. I'm wondering if it might be a parody, or something using the framing of a children's book to present philosophy. It's not The Tao of Pooh or The Te of Piglet (I checked the chapter titles), but it might be something along those lines.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:34 AM on October 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you! Oddly, a screenshot of a photo showed up in a friend’s photo stream. She has no idea how it got there, or where it was taken. This is my first time posting a question here, so I apologize if this is in the wrong format. I will try to post the photo here.

I have tried to fix the photo link and on my end it doesn’t look like it is working. Without the “link” button, here is an ugly link:
https://share.icloud.com/photos/057086BDY53APN4jjQfjQcA2Q
posted by saltykitten at 7:06 AM on October 8, 2022

This photo looks like a screenshot from a game or an animated movie! See the little red arrow in the upper left. Does your friend have:
1) an iPad or iPhone with games on it
2) a kid or partner who may have taken a screenshot of the game from a shared device?
That could help narrow it down. I’d expect the text to turn up a hit if it were a real book.
posted by peppercorn at 7:17 AM on October 8, 2022 [6 favorites]

I'm also wondering if it might be a game.

I can't make out any of the text at all, so presumably you have a higher-resolution copy of the image yourself. Can you read what it says in the little graphical flourish at the top of the page of text?
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 7:29 AM on October 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Whoa! She does have a kid, who enjoyed the text when it was shared with them — that is what started this whole thing. As a parent of a gamer that started out playing on my mobile devices, I now remember mystery screenshots showing up all the time…but I didn’t make the connection to this very realistic-looking book! I will ask her right now. Thank you peppercorn!


I couldn’t make out the text either; she copied and pasted it.
posted by saltykitten at 7:30 AM on October 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm going to echo those saying this doesn't look like a real book. The writing is strange, as if it hasn't been past an actual editor. More than that, the formatting of the text page is weird: "Chapter 3" uncentered beneath the ornament above it, lack of paragraph indents, big gaps between paragraphs. And that's just the stuff that stands out at a quick glance.

This looks like somebody who doesn't know much about books tried to create something book-like in Word. (Which, in turn, means that it looks like 90% of the self-published books I've seen.)
posted by jdroth at 9:24 AM on October 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

The image on the left page doesn’t seem to match the design of the right page, either. The right page has a fancily-illuminated drop cap, but the picture is minimal-abstract. Pretty incongruous, lending credence to the “not a real book” theory.
posted by kevinbelt at 10:26 AM on October 8, 2022 [2 favorites]