2024 TinyCat Birthday Treasure Hunt

April 8th was TinyCat's eighth birthday, and we're celebrating with a special catcentric treasure hunt!

The object of the game is to solve our clues (in verse!) and go to the LibraryThing page each clue is talking about.

Go HERE for the hunt.

You have a little less than two weeks—until Tuesday April 30th at 11:59pm EST—to find all the TinyCats hidden around the site and add them to your clowder.

Use this thread to brag, ask for and give hints, etc.

We'll be awarding profile badges to anyone who finds at least two TinyCats, and anyone who finds all 15 will be entered into a drawing for some LibraryThing / TinyCat swag.

Helpful tips

Please, use the spoiler tag when posting hints or suggestions. Here's how:

To use the spoiler tag, type the following before whatever you'd like to hide:

<spoiler>

And this, at the end of what's hidden:

</spoiler>

Books, cats and a treasure hunt! Yea!!

I am not sure where to answer these?

>3 ABlueBunny: as stated above "visit the corresponding LibraryThing pages to find a TinyCat. Each clue points to a specific page right here on LibraryThing"

All you have to do is navigate to the correct page and you will see a banner at the top of the page saying you have found a cat. Good Luck.

Is it me, or does it look like the bird has bled after encountering a cat?

I found all the TinyCats except for 13. Can anyone provide a hint or two? TIA

>6 historywhiz: I'm having an issue with #13. I think there are 2 series that fit the profile, but nothing connected to the series will trigger the tiny cat to appear.

>6 historywhiz: looking for the CAT co-author of a 32 book mystery series (clue says "almost" 33) a google search with that info should get you what you need

Geez, I was losing it, I was sure I'd gotten 9 and 11 but it never said I found anything so I was just like... how much harder is this treasure hunt??

But I guess it just decided to give me the cat without telling me I'd found them because they're crossed off NOW.

I now have a complete clowder (great word) of cats. The purring is deafening.

>9 momelimberham: Yes, that happened to me several times - no banner, but crossed off.

The first time I’ve found them all without using any hints from the Talk thread! Must be because I was highly motivated by the adorable little TinyCats. Talpa Search came in handy for several of them.

I tell you what, I am generally on the fence, leaning No, when it comes to AI, but the Talpa Search functionality is certainly helping things here.

>8 CaiReads: Thanks, I finally got it. I had looked at the series and found one of the authors but not the one the clue was asking for.

I'm stuck on #15 (got all the rest), and I feel like it should be a James Heriott book (Oscar, the Cat About Town), but that doesn't turn up anything. Does anyone have any hints for that one? Thanks!

Stuck on 3, 4 and 7. Any help is appreciated!

Stuck on 1, 3, 7 and 12...

Any help would be appreciated!

1 looks like it should be obvious - but it's not to me.

Again and I keep complaint about this, there is no banner announcing the Treasure Hunt. I only find out about it from Facebook. Then I have to go to recent news and click from there. Please put the banner back on. Thanks.

And p s , at least one of my finds did not show on the page but was crossed off on the clue page. Others have noted this as well.

Update 4/20 - The banner is back!!!

If you're struggling and sure that you'd found the solution but found no banner at the top of the page, try reloading the clue page. It just knocked a bunch off my list that didn't register as found.

Re: 15
It's not as well known an author as James Herriot, but both Cat About Town and Tom Jones should help you get the title in a Google search.

Any hints for #7?

>17 Maddz: Spoilers for 3 & 12 I can't help with 7 because I'm stuck on that too, but 3 and 12 are both children's book characters (and definitely pay attention to that last line for 3).
Spoiler for 1 For 1, you're looking for the group named after the birthday kitty!

>17 Maddz: For #1, try searching on the Groups page.

>16 bostonbibliophile: Spoiler for 4 Try taking a look on the groups page for number four!

>16 bostonbibliophile: >17 Maddz: For #3, you can buy various articles of men’s clothing at a haberdashery, including hats.

>20 bell7: Thank you, that worked, and added another book to my TBR pile! *grin*

For #7, one possible series of numbers for finding books is the Dewey Decimal System. Try searching the Classification page, specifically the Melvil Decimals.

Alternatively, for #7, go to a topical book, go to the Work details page, expand the DDC/MDS listings, and check out the listings that seem also topical. If that makes any sense.

Is #3 not The Cat in the Hat ? I can't get the TinyCat. Help!

>29 perennialreader: look for character not book (but that book is correct to get your answer from)

>29 perennialreader: Which page did you go to? The book page or the character page?

>30 CaiReads: Found it! Thanks!

Done! A quick and fun hunt.

>27 Charon07: This is all true for #7 - but cats appear several times in the Melvil Decimals system and the answer required isn't the normal Natural sciences and mathematics/ZoologyMammalsCarnivora/Felines/Cats category that you might expect. Instead they've chosen the cats in the animal husbandry category (found under Technology/Agriculture & related technologies/).

>34 newcrossbooks: Got it! Thanks!

>29 perennialreader: FYI, I never got the banner for that one, but it was marked as found on my tracking page, so double-check (and refresh the page) after you think you should have found it.

I'm feeling really stupid about this one, but I can't find #6 to save my life.

I think I've gone through ever newberry book, but I can't find #10?

>38 Beammey:

It's there (on the award page), and the title makes it pretty obvious from the clue.

Nevermind - found #6. I just had to stop looking so hard and *bam* there it was.

Hi, I don't even know where to start with #6... Any hints, please?

I’m stuck on 6, too.

>41 alexyskwan:, >42 DKnight0918: You want a gathering that has to do with the general focus of LTand the critterreferred to by this hunt.

My first time finishing without any hints in my favorite subject cats.

>43 Taphophile13: Are you sure that you are referring to Question 6 here? Your response is a great description for how I found #4!

While I think I figured out the general topic of #6 , I can't find exactly which page to navigate to for the hunt.
The last line that it "'reads' each tome" is also a bit baffling. Any more tips?

>24 RosetheReader: got it- thanks!

Found #6. It's not an online tool but a physical one. The word "read" is a big clue.

Thanks all!

>47 alexyskwan: Got it! Thank you so much. That was my last one.

Hints for this treasure hunt have been consolidated up to this point in the LT Treasure Hunts group

Still can't find 13. I know the author, I found the series, but I can't find the exact right page. Very frustrating.

>50 cmbohn: For 13: Read the clue carefully, who/what is it specifically describing?

The series? A book? An author? Is there more than one author? If yes, did you try each of them?

>22 RosetheReader: Well, got now got them all with help from the thread.

Not having dealings with children, and not being American means I didn't have a clue where to start for most; even Google wasn't helping.

>25 Charon07: Not in the UK, you don't!

Here, a haberdashery is where you buy craft items like knitting wool, fabrics, sewing needles and the like. Men's clothing is found in a gentleman's outfitters (or the menswear department in a department store); hats are sold by milliners (for ladies) or hatters (for gentlemen).

Thanks all, found the last three with the help from this thread :-)

>20 bell7: Thank you! Your hint for #15 helped me close out this Treasure Hunt.

>22 RosetheReader: and >23 Charon07: Thanks. I thought I was checking in the right place but I was not.

-zombiecat

Still don't get it. I thought I tried that. Feeling very dumb.

>50 cmbohn: For #13 it's the co-author's author page.

Hey is anyone not getting the notification at the top of their screen saying they have found a cat? All but two things I found did not give me a notification.

>53 Maddz: Oh, I see! I was thinking of tailoring items but I wouldn't have thought of hats at a haberdasher's.

>18 Micheller7: I have the banner today. I don't remember seeing it yesterday.

Got 'em! #7 threw me for a loop. Would never have gotten it except for the hints. Thanks to the clue-makers and hint-givers!

>59 amanda4242: Are you sure? I spent the last two hours trying every imaginable option.

>64 Phlegethon99: there are 2 series with around 32/33 books written by a 3 name author only one has a cat co-author

>4 Taphophile13: Thanks.

>58 cmbohn: I feel dumber! I still don't get how to find these elusive cats!

I'm sure I know the right book for #10 but no tinycat icon. Help please?

ETA found # 12. One left!

This is too complicated to follow for my little brain...back to reading. Good luck everyone! :)

Yay, a new hunt! I found them all. ✅💪 Thanks for organising the hunt!

Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble this time? I'm positive I have the correct answers to at least a couple of these but I'm not getting any icon at the top and they're not crossing off the clue page.

>65 raidergirl3: That may be the case, but I checked them all and still do not find it. Not being an American, this quiz is frustrating enough, but with all this Library Thing redundancy and every user being able to fiddle around with database entries it is quite easy to lose one´s way.

>71 Kozo89: Make sure you reread the clues. I was sure I had one, checked books, series, and character but when I read the clue they wanted the author page. And there it was!

>34 newcrossbooks: Thank you!

I am having the hardest time with #4. Does anyone have any clues for me?

>75 SOlson096: # 4 The clue mentions two subjects search Library thing groups for one with both

I got them all! And although I could have used some help on a few there were no tips here. With some persistence and head-scratching, I found them.

Thank you to LT staff for another fun treasure hunt! And thanks to ConceptDawg for the gorgeous illustration.

Need help with 6;7;13 and 15. Please.

Update - I got them all, although 13 was the hardest. But many helpful clues and Google. There are certainly a lot of cat books out there!🙀

I need help with 2. I had assumed it was something to do with the NYPL lions Patience and Fortitude but nothing is clicking.

Thanks for all the help, hint givers!!! I couldn't do it without your nudges in the right direction!!

>79 varielle: For #2, it is the title of a book, google the main characters and location mentioned in the clue and you should get it!

>65 raidergirl3: Thank you! I was stuck on the wrong series! Your hint helped me finish!

>82 GenevieveAOK: lol, I spoke from experience. I spent time n the wrong one too.

I cannot wait for the TinyCat Badge!! It will be my favorite one. TY!

Well, it's the first time I've completed one of these treasure hunts without having to come for hints. Like others, I found the Talpa search quite helpful for some of the last ones. Thanks for a fun hunt.

>65 raidergirl3: I am pretty sure I have found the correct author, but cannot find a co-author. Can you give another hint?

Update. I had the wrong three named author.

I got the last one using Talpa search. 15 pretty kitties!

>65 raidergirl3: #13 drove me crazy. I was fixated on The Cat Who.... series, which I used to read all the time years ago. So frustrating when neither Qwill nor Koko – and not even Yum Yum – gave me the answer. I'd entirely forgotten about Sneaky Pie, whom I know of by name but I've never read any of the books.

Anyone got any hints for #9 - I think I've found the right author and series, but can't find the badge.

Nope, got it... didn't click on the correct link.

>39 paradoxosalpha: Rude, and not helpful. For #10, Google only coughed up one book - ignore that. Check the LT page for the award, and don't just concentrate on medal winners; I did a control-f for "cat".

>90 Stewartry: Thanks for your help with the clues to #10 .I was finally able to find my last cat, thanks to your help .

>53 Maddz: I'm in the UK too so struggle with some of the clues x

Nearly there. Stuck on 6 and 7 x have looked at hints but still no luck x

>93 tina1969: For #6 You might have to nip to the LT store and look for something to help there.

This was unexpectedly difficult. Thanks to all the hints! And of course to the team at LT for organising the hunt.

>94 AHS-Wolfy: thanks x would never had got that one x this hunt has been hard x just need help with 7 now x

Now got all 15. No idea how I got no 7 x

Bit off-topic - has anyone received their badge for the Valentines Hunt?

I’m still struggling with #2, even though I know I am close… When I search two big cats names and the place, I get two book titles, but both are failing my expectations. Am I googling the correct things?

>99 Yamanekotei: I think I see where you're going with that, but (if I suppose correctly) you're on the wrong track.

>88 CurrerBell: Thank you! I also got fixated on the wrong series, and had never even heard of the correct one!

This has been one of the easier hunts for me, but I kept thinking of cats that hadn't been included, such as Orlando, Mog, Simpkin ...

>100 humouress:

Thank you! I guess I watched too many episodes of “Between the Lions”😂

>102 Yamanekotei: 😄

Thanks for another fun treasure hunt and congrats on the TinyCat birthday milestone. Fab painting by conceptDawg as always :)

Finally got #7 and I have all of them. Another wonderful drawing. Thanks to LT and all who had hints.

12 was my last one (but I finally got it), with only one hint given here (but that's not what helped... I eventually found the right combination of words from the clue to google to come up with it).

>92 tina1969: Yeah, my bugbear is American children's books, most of which I've never heard of (I doubt my sister's kids have either). I grew up in Egypt followed by the UK in the 1950s-1960s, US books didn't come my way until I went to uni and discovered the local SFF bookshop... Forever People didn't exactly specialise in children's books unless they were SFF-related.

Got them all! What a fun hunt, thanks LibraryThing, I love you!

I have found the answer to #9 and the banner keeps saying I have found a tiny cat but must sign in. When I sign in again, I can't get the tiny cat!

Got all but #3; it has really got me stumped. I've tried everything I can think of and have followed the hints, but still come up blank. Maybe it will come to me before the end of the treasure hunt. It was fun still the same.

I've found 7 of the 15 but my banner says I still have zero and none of the ones I have found show up as crossed off. Can someone help?

>110 kathieintheburg: #3 is a Dr. Seuss character's page.

>6 historywhiz: Rita Mae Brown

A fun hunt! Thank you!

>112 amanda4242: Finally, thank you so much for your help. I kept coming back to them, but wasn't getting to the right place. I appreciate your hint and your help.

YAY! I did it, thank you to everyone. A special thank you to the artist.

>15 Ribby47:
Search this: cat Tom Jones author and you should find the answer you seek.

>17 Maddz: For #12 search "blue cat who never loses his cool" in a search engine--it should give you the name of the character/series.

>38 Beammey: and others: For #10 --took me longer to find it than it probably should have. Had to try a number of keywords in searches until I finally found the right one. it's a 1929 Newbery Honor.

>109 ddlambert: Are you on one of the international LT sites? I remember on a previous hunt that the folks on the Dutch LT site had to sign in to the US site to get the penguin (or whatever it was for that hunt).

>111 tdashoff: Did you try refreshing the hunt page? Logging out and logging back in? See >9 momelimberham:, >11 2wonderY: and >19 twacorbies:.

>113 JenniferHed: Please use spoiler tags :0) (see >1 AbigailAdams26: for how to create them).

Hints for this treasure hunt have been consolidated up to this point in the LT Treasure Hunts group

Woo Hoo!!!

Done after only discovering this hunt late last night when finally getting around to cataloguing two new acquisitions from last week. (lots to do over the weekend and I didn't open up my computer until the late evening).

I knocked over about four on my own knowledge then killed most of the rest this morning thanks to the hints on this page, with the last four done using Hail Mary style google searches.

Cheers

Some of yall are life savers i was stuck on 2 of em but i got to add some new books to the pile so thank you XD

Thanks to everyone who posted hints! I finally found all fifteen with your help.

This hunt was a little tricky, but I made it thanks to hints and Google. It was a Great TinyCat Birthday hunt. I look forward to these hunts.

Thanks for another fun Hunt.
Got them all in an hour as I drank my morning coffee.
Didn't need any hints and only a couple of googles.
Will now read through the above to see if there's anything I can help with.

Happy Earth Day!!
(working on this helped calm me down while listening to my neighborhood "celebrating Earth Day" by running dozens of gas-fueled blowers and mowers . . . . uggg!)

I always struggle when there's a lot of US children's books, so thanks everyone for hints. And LT for another hunt :D

phew: finished. #2 was not at all what i thought it was. thank you google!

Thanks for all the hints and help. I finally got them all, but it was a tougher hunt than I thought it might be. I got to use my reference desk skills.

I can't find #14. Help!

On the book series page, look on the right for related people/characters.

Last one, #9. I found the biggest series of books about Cat Warrior Clans, but nothing kicks in.

>133 Cariola: For #9 maybe you need to be more of a Hunter to find the right series page.

>134 AHS-Wolfy: Finally got it, but it wasn't easy!

>15 Ribby47: Do a Google search with clues and you should find the author.

>130 hollysbookmusings: if you use the name, and the list in the last few lines of the clue in a google search, it should come up.

I have them all, but #11. I wa thinking of Aristocats or Top Cat but those not to be correct.

O well, too much going on right now in outside books, one which is being racing up and down to hospital for sick parent

Ugh, I have tried all the hints and still can't find #15 any help?

>139 EdwinKort: For #11 This author had a movie made about his creation this year as well as a couple back in the 00's

Fun search; however even with all the hints still stuck on #6. 🤦‍♀️

>142 thereseg: #6: The operative word is "tool". Where in LT can you find one of these shaped like a cat?

>94 AHS-Wolfy: Thank you SO much!! I was in the correct place but hadn't clicked! :)

I am still completely confused on # 7 and all the hints have just led to my clicking and clicking. Could anyone else help out this confused cat?

Consolidated hints for this hunt have been updated.

Finally found the last one ... # 8 should've been the easiest, but I was derailed by a negative word at the beginning of the third line. Duh!

Oh ... and many thanks to the many clues here. I used them for # 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12!

>28 karenb: Thank you!! This worked for # 7! I was at a loss until I tried it your suggested way! :)

>141 AHS-Wolfy: Ah. Yes. Another feline creature.

Now I have them all

>143 AnnieMod: yessssx thank you!

Finally all done. Fun was had. Thank you for a pleasant hunt

Am I the only one having trouble with #5?

I thought the answer is that famous author with that whale story but opening that book or the author doesn't work. Even talpa search returned the same book.

Can't find any other author with name like melvil.

Am I looking in wrong direction?

>152 aqeeliz: In this case Melvil is not an author. Also, note the spelling

>152 aqeeliz: You are not the only one... I am promising myself I will keep looking.

>153 norabelle414: Thanks. I was stuck in that line of thought, and even when trying other things, kept going around that circle.

Found the answer. And learned something interesting.

I've solved all but #15 and have seen all of the hints up to now. The poem appears to describe a character created by the original author of #8, but I can't find the solution on the Author's page nor the Works page for the original anthology in which the character appears. Message 20 (bell7) seems to suggest a less well known author, though. I've checked other works/series entitled 'Cat About Town' and the 'cat' related books by author Tom Jones, with no success. Very frustrated!

>156 schase56: I was similarly stuck until I reread the clue and made a one word change to my search terms. I used Gentleman cat around town and found it really fast

Thanks for the hints! That was fun!! Got them all! Now to enjoy my cat chowder!!

>28 karenb: Thank you, this helped me get #7! It was not in the classification section I expected.

Finally found all 15. Took me two days!!!! The hardest one for me to find turned out to be the easiest, I was just going around in circles about it. Oops!

This was a lot of fun though!

I finally got #15, to complete the hunt! However, nothing I had previously tried, including the hints (not even 157 from scraps) let me anywhere near the solution. I ended up asking Microsoft Copilot by entering the text of the clue; it immediately gave me the answer (a book and author I had never heard of)!

Totally stuck on 4 and 7. Can someone please post a very obvious clue or even the answer? They have me absolutely flummoxed. Thanks.

>162 hepzibah59: #4 Find an LT group that is about books and cats. Search for the words that is less likely to have a lot of results (LT being books site and all) and you will see it.

Still stuck on #1 and #14. Thank you for any additional clues.

ETA: OK found both of these after looking back through some older hints! Good luck everyone! And thank you to ConceptDawg for the beautiful illustration.

k4k

Consolidated hints updated: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23170/LT-Treasure-Hunts

Walkthrough for #8... The 1st hit for an LT search of OLD POSSUM --> Scroll down to Related movies and do an LT search for GREAT PERFORMANCES: CATS --> 2 hits, pick 1

Many thanks to the creators for another enjoyable Hunt that I cheated and stumbled my way through!

>163 AnnieMod: Got 4, thank you. Still looking for 7.

>167 hepzibah59: I finally got #7 by looking at the clues in >34 newcrossbooks:. I don't think I can say it any better.
Good luck!!

>140 wolf5300: I used Google for #15.

Thank you for your help with numbers 1, 3, 4, & 6! I finally have all the cats! Mwa hahahaha!

>24 RosetheReader: Thank you!

>34 newcrossbooks: Thank you!

>88 CurrerBell: Thank you, I had no idea about this one!

Thanks for the fun hunt and for the hints, I needed the help for the last few clues.

>47 alexyskwan: Thank you!! That finally helped me to find my last one.

>168 krazy4katz: Finally got it.

Done, with a little help from my kids. Thanks for the hunt, the clues and the hints!

Hints are consolidated by clue number in the LT Treasure Hunts group.

>176 hepzibah59: Yay!!

Yay! I finished! I did use some hints. Love these hunts!

Love the hunts, love the wonderful conceptdawg art. Many thanks for the breadcrumbs (hints) left here by the generous fellow searchers that enabled me to find my way home when I got lost.

I'm so glad I got all 15 TinyCats! #7 was tough, ha ha! Love the hunts!!

Hello All! Our 2024 TinyCat Birthday Treasure Hunt has now ended. Thank you to all who participated!

We had 1,838 players for this hunt, and 1,075 players finding at least five clues. The average number of clues found was eight.

Our randomly selected winners for the hunt are:

mitchma
clockworktomato
torirusso
Kindleifier
armature

Winners: I will be messaging you about your mailing addresses, so we can get your prizes sent out to you!

Participants who found at least two TinyCats: Please be aware that badges are awarded manually, and may not appear in your badges for some time.

Regarding the banner: the developers are still aware of the ongoing problems with the banner's appearance, and the fact that dismissing it once sometimes seems to dismiss it forever, despite the member's wishes/preferences. The issue is on the list of things to be looked at, although I have no timeline to give on a resolution.

It is now 4 months since this hunt ended. Anyone get their badges yet?

>183 mr.philistine: No, and not for the several past ones either. They come when they come. They have to be awarded manually, so patience ...

>184 SandraArdnas: Okay, but the 2023 Halloween Hunt badge was awarded about 45 days after the hunt ended.

>185 mr.philistine: Sometimes it's soon after the hunt and sometimes it isn't.

Woohoo!!

We need more kitty badges :D