I have this weird memory from when I was about 3, 4, or 5. My family was on a camping trip, and I barely remember it except for being in the tent at night, about to go to sleep, with my parents reading me this book about a monster called the "Jaboo," which had tiny limbs, an oval-shaped bald head with tiny eyes without pupils and a jagged mouth, and a big fat stomach. On its stomach it had the same face it had on it's head, but bigger. It ate people with the mouth of this face, and I remember a page that said "but the Jaboo came west and ate her." I don't remember who "her" was. The Jaboo was always seen from the side, all the pictures were simple and black and white, there was lots of empty space on each page, and the book was red and looked a bit old, or at least not brand new. I've searched for this online a bunch but don't remember the title, and got no results for "The Jaboo" that matched. It could be a false memory but my mom thinks it sounds vaguely familiar. It might seem weird to search for a book on here but literature is a section. If you have any info, I'd love to hear it.
Hello, it's me again. I just wanted to make this post recently updated again so that more people with information on it can see it. I also forgot to mention that it's highly unlikely that I'm thinking of "Oh the Things You Can Think!" by Dr. Seuss because not only are there too many differences between what I remember and that book for them to be connected. In fact, I specifically remember reading Oh the Things You Can Think in 3rd grade and suddenly being reminded of the Jaboo, which had been in the back of my mind for years, by the Jibboo monster featured in Oh the Things You Can Think. Great writers think alike, I guess. There's lots of other things called Jaboo, like a musical artist and other things, but I don't think they're related. I want to here any info anyone has.
It's sort of depressing when people keep replying to their posts that no one else replies to, but I remembered a few more details, like how the title might've had something to do with pumpkins, or shadows, or hearts, the (female) protagonist's silhouette might've been on the cover, with the red of the cover showing through the shape of a heart in her chest. She was very thin and had hair like Donita Donota (a villain in Wild Kratts, which I watched a lot as a kid). In fact, the whole silhouette resembled her. I think the (also female) character that the Jaboo eats was either the main character's relative (sister, maybe), friend, or someone who antagonized her. Don't picture the Jaboo with a neck, it didn't have one.
I don't know when the book was published, but like I said, it looked kind of weathered, although the paper was pretty white, not all yellowed. It was read to me in the early 2000s sometime, I can't remember how old I was. It seemed sort of old fashioned, like a dark fairy tale. And sorry, I took kind of a while to reply.
I would guess it had been published anytime between the 60s and the 90s, or earlier if it was re-released, or renewed, or whatever you call it, although that's unlikely for such an obscure book that a major aspect of it like the Jaboo didn't yeild any results (unless I'm remembering it wrong). But I could be completely wrong.
I would guess it had been published anytime between the 60s and the 90s, or earlier if it was re-released, or renewed, or whatever you call it, although that's unlikely for such an obscure book that a major aspect of it like the Jaboo didn't yeild any results (unless I'm remembering it wrong). But I could be completely wrong.
No problem!
Sometimes the art style can help. Like if it had a 70s "look" to it for example. Maybe look for art of a similar style, that could help determine what decade it's from.
Even if it is a false memory, it could be inspired by creepy artwork you saw as a kid in a picture book. Maybe at least finding something close to what it looks like can give you some closure.
I don't know of any folklore creatures that have mouths on their stomachs, but if it's real it could be about some kind of folklore creature.
I'll keep looking for it! Best of luck to you as well!
The art style was...unique. I think I said before that it felt very empty, with minimal illustration on each page (well, the one page I remember) and the picture of the Jaboo, with "her" legs sticking out of its mouth, was very simplistic, the Jaboo being solid black with only one tiny white eye visible. The legs might've had some kind of pattern on them, and they had kind of big feet. The Jaboo had three wide claws on each hand or foot. The hands and feet kind of looked the same. If there was a woman's silhouette on the cover like I thought there was, it had more detail, such as a hairstyle that could be considered 70s-ish, and how it appeared to be wearing a dress. There might've been a heart shape on the silhouette woman's chest where the book's red cover showed through, and I don't know if this was the character that got eaten. It wouldn't surprise me if this was from the 70s, but it could really be from anytime. I don't know when there was commonly this much blank space. And remember, there was no color.
If this was a false memory, I'd know right away what inspired it. We had another children's book with somewhat minimalist illustrations called Mittens, about a kitten, that had a red cover just like the one I remember this one having, and it was the same size. I asked my mother about the book, and she said it sounded familiar, but that I might be thinking of this drawing book called "I Can Draw Monsters," saying that she thought the Jaboo was a monster in that book. I remember that book VERY well, but I'm not sure I remember a monster like the Jaboo being in it, although it does feel like the art and design style of that book. I wonder where I could get a copy of that book. I think it was pretty old, and it's long gone by now. The thing that makes me feel like it's not a false memory is that, as I said, I remember other experiences from that camping trip, which I associate with this memory. I've asked about those memories and they've been verified to be true, although kind of distorted, since I was really little. If it's a false memory, it's an old one from when I was the age I was on this camping trip, because I've found some of my very old, unsuccessful attempts to draw the Jaboo, with the word "Jaboo" written by it. More recently I've been able to draw it much more accurately. It's weird, though, another part of me recently started saying that the pages weren't really that empty, and that the Jaboo was on a grassy hill when it ate that character. There's also a small chance that the art in the book was not only more detailed, it was also in "rows," sort of like a comic strip, but without individual panels, just bands going across the page with the pictures in them, displaying the sequence of events. This is unlikely though, and I'm confident that any background was minimal, and that there was no color. Looking into folklore would be a good idea, because it definitely seems like a folklore monster. Thanks!
Here's a kind of rough sketch of the Jaboo (although in the illustrations it was filled in with black). Also, I recently watched the 2014 horror film The Babadook and I was very surprised to see that the cover of the book in that movie looks incredibly similar to how I remember the cover of the Jaboo book looking, even though it was (presumably) read to me long before this film was released in 2014. And apparently it wasn't based on any preexisting story.