Here’s what I remember:
- A girl meets a strange nerdy boy who can go into the 4th dimension
- The fourth dimension wasn’t just a perpective, it was its own universe with its own living creatures
- If you flip over in fourth dimension and come back, you will be reversed, and all foods taste weird to you. Apparenly, reversed ketchup is like crack
- The guy and gal are kidnapped by two freaky creatures in the fourth dimension, and then they look at them with fourth-dimension viewing glasses, they looked like scary octopuses
- This book ruled
I think this author wrote another book about a boy that finds a cloning machine. Except the clone would start growing weird black moles and turn into a freaky killer. Or maybe that was a bad dream I had.
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oh my god – why does this sound so familiar and yet i have no recollection of reading it?! but as soon as i read your synopsis i had this VIVID image of my grade school cafeteria (that also doubled as a gymnasium/assembly place/stage for school plays).
weird.
It reminded me of a Goosebumps episode called ‘Lets Get Invisible” and the mirror was another dimension that was all weird.
http://www.amazon.com/Singularity-William-Sleator/dp/0140375988
I never read this one, but loved Sleator in general. He ruled!
Holy crap, I LOVED this book! A few weeks ago it was mentioned in a post on a book-lovers forum, and it’s been on my to-be-reread list ever since. But somehow it’s never at the library when I search for it. Boo.
That bit about the ketchup has stuck with me for the past 15 (at least) years. Seriously, every time I see ketchup in a packet, I think of this damn book.
There were actually TWO boys in the story, right? The nerdy guy (I’m almost positive that his name was Omar) and a pretty-but-stupid guy. Omar showed the girl how to go 4-D. Later the girl brought the dumb guy to the other dimension to try to impress him, and that’s when they were kidnapped by the 4-D monsters… who were named something like Gigigi and Ramoom. And the monsters put them in this maze where they were chased by some OTHER monster… a 4-D rat maybe?
Why the HELL do I remember this shit? I’m pretty sure that I only read this book once.
I’m the exact same! Yes, it was Omar, and I remember some random parts that you mentioned. And I only read it once as well!
I never read this one, but the cover reminds me of this choose your own adventure book I used to have when I was a child.
YAY!!! I loved Sleator and this book was one of my favorites! And the book with the clones was called The Duplicate.
Jehanne- totally! GIGIGIGI! I remember now. Oh yea, and the boy she was kidnapped with was drugged or something so he wouldn’t remember the fourth dimension.
Also, they described the fourth dimension as a cube who had a cube for each side, which is so not what the fourth dimension is. Not like I really know, but I know it’s not that.
And wasn’t the kid the caretaker of the 2-dimensional world?
Yay, William Sleator! One of the best YA sci-fi writers ever. My favourite of his was Interstellar Pig, which is about a boy who discovers his neighbours are aliens. Scared the crap out of me when I first read it, aged about 10 (and actually still does now I’m 26!).
I’m on vacation and staying at my mom’s house and this book is still on the bookshelf in the family room. I loved this book when I was younger. I definitely remember the ketchup tasting amazing if they flipped over in the fourth dimension. I’m tempted to reread it while I’m home this week.
Ditto, Glittergirley and BadKat! This title sounds so familiar…and I loooove the Choose-Your-Own Adventure Series. That I gave away all CYAs long ago makes me sad. 😦
But now I am sooo going to read this book and *that* will make me happy again! 🙂
“Apparently, reversed ketchup is like crack.”
NATLBSB! 🙂
I saw the Choose-Your-Own Adventure series in a Barnes and Noble the other day. Apparently the publishers re-released them. I was never very good, though. I always died. Unless I cheated. 🙂
Ahh, this book was great – one of my favorites as a kid! I especially liked that the ending was not a happily ever after, but rather a tolerable ever after. Thanks for recapping this!
“I always died. Unless I cheated.”
Now, now Kathryn…memorizing the page numbers to all the good endings in the CYOA books isn’t cheating. Technically-speaking of course. 😉
Good to know they were re-release though! 🙂
Oh shit yeah, there were evil clones. There was also some end-of-the-world game with evil pigs and space creatures and what-not, getting stuck in a mountain during a time jump, getting back at your asshole twin by growing one year older over night, and the odd beautiful girl who was always Trouble. I was all up in William Sleator’s shit when I was young.
craap. i have to write a report on this book and i never finished it. the report it due in 1 day, and im freaking out!!!! can someone summarize the middle/end in a non-confusing way plzz!!!!!
the boy they took and brought back they drugged him with ketchup. i bet it tasted amazing.
This book is awesome! I’m so stuck into it, my head hurts alot.As far as I know, they’re like stuck inside a cage with 4-D monsters. And when you eat the ketchup, you get high. This book can confuse you. It still boggles my brain. There’s this ana and kata thingy, and I still don’t know what it is. [WARNING: REVERSED KETCHUP IS ILLEGAL LIKE DRUGS AND MARAWANA.] Just immagine in 4-D there’s an invisible wall and you can’t see through it. That’s the extra direction. You have to shift your head to see the other side. And in 5-D, there are 2 walls.