2023 Pride Month Treasure Hunt

It's Pride Month, and that means our annual Pride Treasure Hunt is back!

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 just under two weeks—until Friday June 30th at 11:59 pm Eastern Time—to find all the rainbows hidden around the site and gather them all into one shower.

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

We'll be awarding profile badges to anyone who finds at least two rainbows, and anyone who finds all 11 will be entered into a drawing for a LibraryThing coaster set and sticker.

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>

The eventual answers have become a to-read list for me. Thank you.

I can hardly believe I got them all! i did have to google some things, but no hints needed!

Erg, I had issues with the first one even after seeing their Paris residence. *facepalm*

Stuck on #5 and #11.

>5 amanda4242: for #5, I found it with shadow instead of silhouette

I can't recall how I found #11, but it involved a google search.

>6 tardis: Thanks! I googled #5 with picture book colorful shadow and found it.

For #11, I got it with a tagmash of young adult, queer, pirates.

Got them all, thank you, that was fun.

I got #11 with ya, gay, historical fiction, pirates

I'm sure I know who #3 is, but I can't find the page!

Yay! Thank you all for putting together another fun hunt.

>11 robnbrwn: #3 is an award, so you are searching in Common Knowledge

I am not having any luck with No. 7, and I am giving up for the evening. Hints would be gratefully received!

>14 MsMixte: #7 is a series by Lynn Flewelling.

Just a note to remind people that tagmash and tag combination are not the same thing. There is a current proposal to combine "the tag YA and LGBTQ." YA and LGBTQ are not the same in meaning and usage on LT, so they should not be combined. A tagmash of the two might be helpful in solving hints.

One way of setting up a tagmash is to make a search. Separate the two terms with a comma, and when you get the work search page, click on tags on the left. At the top of the search results you will see a link to "See a tagmash of ..."

Recent hunts have seen large numbers of really bad tag combination proposals that were probably meant to be tagmashes.

Edit: nvm! the notification didn't show for me, but it eventually got counted 😅

I got them all except #2.

ETA: I found it! So I am done :-)

>15 amanda4242: thank you so very much! I don't know why I was so stuck on that one, but I have now managed to find it with your assistance.

I'm struggling with many this time. US picture books are an unknown. Will check the always helpful hints later, though

>6 tardis: Thanks for the hint for #5, I completed the hunt with that help!

I came over because FAMeulstee mentioned she was doing the hunt but I still haven't seen any banner. Off to have a look ...

I never received my badges for the last couple of hunts... Anyone else have the same problem?

>23 LegendaBookery: Sometimes they come in late, in a batch of sorts.

>23 LegendaBookery: I don't have any badges for this year yet.

Two weeks ...
;0)

>13 Aquila: Thanks. I was looking at the author who immediately sprang to mind.

In case anyone needs it for #7 (the last one I got):


I eventually got it with a more specific tagmash including "gay" rather than "lgbtq" to be more narrowly targeted.

Incidentally, I know it will piss off the haters, but have you ever considered turning the "chocolate bar" rainbow for Pride Month?

(This brought to you by noticing the rainbow logo pin, and lack of rainbow sticker, in the merch. My water bottle has room for 1 or 2 more stickers - I lost my old one.)

>28 lorax: but have you ever considered turning the "chocolate bar" rainbow for Pride Month?

If the chocolate bar is too difficult to change, maybe change to a rainbow logo for this group's picture?

I need help with #9.

Just searching ALA in Common Knowledge should get you #9

Gasp! I didn’t know there is a hunt going on!

Please help me with #3, #4, and #5. I just can't think of anymore things to try.

>33 perennialreader: #3 was tough for me. I tried googling and could only find a much-better-known prize. In desperation, I looked in the Common Knowledge of all the LGBTQ SF books I could think of. Finally, when I looked at the awards won by The Left Hand of Darkness, and followed the link to the award page, I found it.

For #4, look at the June Early Reviewers batch. There you can use the Genre drop-down list to select LGBTQ+ as the genre. There are only a few titles, so just try clicking the most likely sounding titles till you get the right one.

>34 Charon07: Thanks so much. I was dancing all around the answers but just couldn't get to the right page. I now have them all! Yippee, another great treasure hunt.

Another fun hunt, highlighted by ConceptDawg's inspired art... many thanks to all for putting this together.

>28 lorax: Gasp, only in pastel colors if it's full bar ;)

I'm stuck at #1 and #9. Help?

>38 Ennas: #1: The last five words of the first line are part of the title of this author's famous debut novel.

>38 Ennas: and remember, you want the author, not the book.

>40 MarthaJeanne: Well, I'm having the same problem with #1. The author seems obvious, but I've gone to the author page and no rainbow. So I don't know what I'm doing wrong with this one.

>39 anglemark: and >40 MarthaJeanne: Thanks!

Any tips for #9? What >31 Aquila: said didn't help me. 🤷‍♀️

>41 atozgrl: There are more authors with that name, are you sure you have the author of >39 anglemark: ?

>42 Ennas: #9 Search for ALA and book list, you can find it under Common Knowledge

>43 FAMeulstee: Yes, and I've even looked at the disambiguation page.

OK, well now that's weird. I went back to the disambiguation page and clicked on every name there. This time I got the rainbow, while doing a search for the author and then going to the author page from the search results never gave me the rainbow. Even though the page looks the same to me whichever way I get to it. Very odd!

FYI, for LT staff, the URL I get for the author page from doing a regular search and going to Authors is different from the URL for the same author page after clicking on the link from the disambiguation page.

I am stuck on #2 and then I am done. Any suggestions?

>44 FAMeulstee: That worked! Thanks! I was SOOOO close every time. 🤦‍♀️

>48 book58lover: I found #2 by reading the Wikipedia page for Heather Has Two Mommies.

>50 amanda4242: Thank you so much. I didn't know that book.

>34 Charon07: To add for #4 (in case anyone still has trouble) (I had this problem with an ER book on a previous hunt.) I am in Canada, that means a different link opens when I click the "LibraryThing Work Page". My default on the ER page is "My Country". If anyone is having trouble finding it, try switching that to "All Countries". Then click over to the LT page.

Everything done except for #5 - all the tagmash suggestions haven't helped. A head scratcher! Will look in later to see if there are more hints.

>53 terriks:

#5 makes clear that you're looking for a picture book about a boy on their first day at school. In particular, the content words from the final line ("silhouette" and "not in grayscale") are a cryptic reference to the title. Even more specifically, the title has the word "shadow" in it, as well as a colour traditionally seen as "girly".

>54 Petroglyph: Yes, thank you - here's the maddening part! I just re-entered the title I figured it had to be about 2 hours ago - and this time I got the rainbow! I did this from my phone as opposed to my laptop.

This isn't the first time changing browsers or devices suddenly lifts the curtain. Maybe that should be a suggestion for puzzled/frustrated players!

>54 Petroglyph:

Weird.

That book's author has two books with very similar titles. Perhaps you searched the other one first? If not, that sounds like a bug that staff should pay attention to.

I am completely perplexed by #6.

This is the first one I finished and I've learned a lot about many new books I'll need to add to my collection and give as gifts to the young people in my life!

>31 Aquila: thanks! It took a while, but I got it!

>57 Marica-Rochelle: The clue makes it clear you're looking for a Group, so go to the LT groups page here -> https://www.librarything.com/ngroups and in the search bar enter QUILTBAG (from the clue) and that should give you the answer. :)

>57 Marica-Rochelle: You're looking for an LT Group, named in the clue.

I could use hints for #10 and #11.

>32 Yamanekotei: I only ever know there's a hunt on when I get the "state of the thing" email!

>61 SF_fan_mae:

#10 is a modern day gay romance that got a lot of talk and even got onto the NY Times Bestseller's List in 2019. The title is a list of three colors.

Others have already talked about #11, and I got it using their hints...

How does Common Knowledge work? I'm searching for a certain award relative to #3. The interface on the left shows there are 272 entries for it under Common Knowledge, but I can't get to them. Awards beneath it shows that there are 4, but then only two appear. I've clicked on everything I can think of.

>62 momelimberham:

I learnt it by reading FB post by LT, and I rarely read them.

I've gotten halfway there and I'm sure I can dig up the others with the help provided here. Thanks to all who have contributed. That there can be so many without some of the obvious ones I thought of first shows how much I've missed. A good lesson; I'll track down some of these.

I’ve read all the posts here & tried all the suggestions, & still need help with 3 & 11.

>67 camelama: For #11, I did a tagmash of what seemed to be three relevant tags (ya, historical romance, and lgbt) and found it that way.

Woo Hoo - solved the set by lunchtime

Thanks to all those who provided hints plus a few hail mary searches on LT

Cheers

>40 MarthaJeanne: Yup, but in my case, if you search the name, go for "author" and selected there... won't give me the badge... Had to go to the book, and then FROM the book, click the author.

anyway... thanks for the hints

>34 Charon07: For #4, I tried unselecting all genres, then only selecting LBGTQ+. When I clicked on the available books in ER for June, all I got was a notice that there were no books with the romance genre available. Any ideas how to get to what I need?

Yay! I got them all. Thanks to everyone who posted hints.

>71 tdashoff: No need to exclude, only select the genre. If I exclude, I don't get it either.
Did you select 'All formats'?

I love these hunts & the way the hunt clues are written, but I've not been able to find all the answers to the clues without the community hints. So thanks for that. Usually, I can find at least 2 on my own.

Ok, now I'm stuck... still not finding #8

>75 glosada:

I found that by doing a tagmash for lgbtq, memoir, graphic novel -- using the clues from the riddle.

I finally completed the hunt! Thanks, everyone!

>71 tdashoff: make sure you have ebooks displaying, and not just print books selected.

I got 6 of them by myself and finished the hunt with the clues for the remaining 5. Thank you.

First Treasure Hunt I got all 11 without hints and help from here! 🥳

Finished, but I had to use the clues for the last few. Thanks to the creators and all the helpers with clues!

>70 glosada: Yeah, there seems to be something wrong with the URL if you get to it just by searching the name and selecting "author". Can't get the badge that way, even though you've got the right author.

Finished. My first Librarything Scavenger Hunt done! Had to use some hints, but I thank you all who left the hints!

>71 tdashoff: i selected sci-fi only

>71 tdashoff: Did you also see my message in >52 LibraryCin:? Are you in the US? If not, take a look at my extra hint there.

Stumbled upon this Pride Hunt about 5 hours ago. Completed in 2 rounds. More tag mashing and google-ing than I usually require, but still enjoyable.
As always . . . Thanks for these Treasure Hunts!

I’ve tried all three sets of hints here for number 11 and still not having any luck. Help please? 🫣

>88 ButterflyRaine: #11 is by Mackenzi Lee.

My first scavenger hunt! Yay I found them all! Thank you to everyone who left hints. They were very helpful.

>76 Petroglyph: Ok, that did the trick. Thanks for the hint.

Funny enough, I (almost) always start tagmashing in the search box, and in several cases, the same "list of words/tags" produces zero results in search, and several in tagmash" and that sometimes gets me off the scent

Anyway, great hunt as always, and THE best way to learn how to use properly the site

Kudos to everyone!

>89 amanda4242: thank you! I swear I’d been to that book at least once before without the badge appearing. Good to know it wasn’t my ineptitude in searching but a site quirk lol

>34 Charon07: Following hint for rainbow #4, clicking on each result netted no rainbow! Help please? found it by clicking on the main title of the book on the Early Reviewers page, NOT the "LibraryThing Work Page" as I did on the first search.

What a great hunt! Thanks so much for the hints from those who shared them.

Just out of curiosity - is it just me or is the banner just missing for the hunt? It showed up on my second account but not on this one...

I never saw a banner. See also >22 humouress: >32 Yamanekotei:

I never saw a banner, either.

I never saw a banner either. But honestly that's preferable to seeing it 100 times as I usually do for a hunt.

>97 MarthaJeanne: >98 BookConcierge: >99 lorax:

Thanks everyone. Back to tracking down clues then.

>100 AnnieMod: I have the banner, but then I have never dismissed the banner.

>101 FAMeulstee: It never ever showed up for me this time around :) So nothing to dismiss. Thus me deciding to ask - it can be late sometimes but it usually shows up. :)

Got all 11 with a lot of googling and hints on here. Thank librarything for the hunt x

>68 coprime: thank you so much! That did it! And I finally got my last one with more web searching. Yay!

>55 terriks: Same thing for me. I re-entered and got it. I did on my computer.

I also cannot get #3. My last one to find for the Hunt. Any different suggestions?

>106 mnleona: Accidental Creatures by Anne Harris won this award. Look at the CK for the award name and click on it. If you don't get the "You found a rainbow!" on the page don't be surprised. I only got it on about half of the correct pages but if you go back to the hunt page and hit refresh the count updates for finding it.

I still cannot get #3 and want to say thanks for the help. I will try again today.

mnleona (#108):

For #3 I tried all possible permutations of a better-known SF award before landing on this one


Try looking at the Awards and Honors section for SF books that you think might be a good match. Several are suggested in this thread.

>108 mnleona: The key is positive LGBT depiction. Only one award styles its decisions this way.

AnnieMod (#110):

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Maybe only one uses that exact terminology but certainly there's at least one more using that concept.

>111 lorax: I cannot be more clear than "styles its decisions". When you are looking for a specific award, knowing how they define their range/what terminology they use makes it easier to find them.

>108 mnleona: ?? The rainbow doesn't show up on the award page I directed you to? Again, go to https://www.librarything.com/work/329746/commonknowledge and click on the (only) Award listed to bring up the book award page to get the rainbow.

>23 LegendaBookery: I did the Valentines hunt and don't appear to have received a badge for it.

>34 Charon07: i only see 2 titles when i look there still having trouble with this one

>114 2manybooksUK: Badges have to be done manually by staff (usually Tim) and often come in batches. I don't think we've had any this year.

My most recent one was Valentine 2022. Maybe we'll all get a bunch soon.

>117 MarthaJeanne:
Didn’t we get Pride 2022 (🐧)and Ghost 2022 (👻) back in Nov 17, 2022? I thought it was the quickest distribution - wow in just two weeks!? - of the badge.

I may not have done those.

AnnieMod (#112)

In that case all I can say is that you are not correct. There is at least one other award covering positive depictions of LGBT people in SF, even if that is not the precise terminology they use. Which is why I asked what you mean - what they cover and the precise terminology they use are not necessarily the same thing.

>120 lorax: Maybe read again what I said... While other awards cover the same ground, only this one uses the words used in the clue (and styles their awards that way) - which is what is helpful in solving the clue here.

>94 richardderus: Still not getting it!! Grrrr it's the last one i need Help!

>122 clamato: What # clue do you need help with, #11?

>122 clamato:

Consolidated hints up to this point now posted in
https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23170/LT-Treasure-Hunts

AnnieMod (#121): That is why I asked what you meant by "styles the award". You mean "use those exact words in that exact order", which you hadn't actually said before.

Thank you to LT staff, another fun treasure hunt!

I have to admit I found this one the most difficult and I needed to resort to google several times instead of the LT search box. Thanks to all the hints posted here, I'd never have done it without them.

>125 lorax: "When you are looking for a specific award, knowing how they define their range/what terminology they use makes it easier to find them." is not clear enough?

That plus the fact that I was pointing out a specific part of the clue should have been clearly pointing out to what I am indicating. We are looking for a specific award - the clue literally repeats what they use in their description. If you decided to take a broader reading of the sentence and ignore the part that I pointed to a specific part of the clue or that we are looking for a specific award, so be it.

Hi
i am almost done but stumped on #4. I looked under all countries, sci-fi LGBTQ, Romance, etc and I still don't have that last Rainbow! Am i missing something? I love doing these treasure hunts!!

>128 clamato: It's closed now, so go to https://www.librarything.com/ner/previous and search for "novelette" in your browser window. Alternatively, you're looking for a one word title in a foreign language that translates to "flower"

>129 Taliesien: Just a point of clarification: the current hunt does not close until 11:59pm on June 30th (this coming Friday).

ETA: I see. Apologies, you were referring to the ER batch being closed. Yes, that is true!

>130 AbigailAdams26: By "It's closed now" I was referring to the early reviewers batch that closed June 25 since the clue context had an expiration date, you can no longer grab it. :)

>131 Taliesien: Yep! I realized that after I posted. Sorry for the confusion. Still, I'll let my comment stand, in case anyone else gets confused, as I did. :)

>113 Taliesien: Thank You. Thank you. I am sure I did that one but it connected this morning.

Got all of them, finally (thanks to Taliesien for the final), and want to say thanks to LT and all who posted help.

>129 Taliesien: Thanks so much for the info! Turns out i had tried that one and tried again today but nothing triggers the rainbow - not sure why. will keep trying i guess.

>135 clamato: Yeah, like I said earlier, I only got the rainbow on about half the pages where it should have displayed but if you go back to the main hunt page and F5 (reload/refresh) the count should update

>135 clamato: Try again. Hope you get it.

Holy cow! It took me until evening on the last day of the month to guess that there was probably an LT Pride Month Treasure Hunt!

And there is.

And I finished it already!

Good job LT team and thanks to members for a hint or two here. I am old (pre-Collections, believe it or not) and hunt questions that require a Tagmash always confuse me!

Hi still trying for Rainbow #4 but the title does not trigger the rainbow. Am i doing something wrong? Help!

>139 clamato: You need the ER page, not the work page.

>140 AnnieMod: Oh My DOG!!!! Finally!!! Thank You soooooo much AnnieMod!!!!! Phew - all done!

>141 clamato: Good day! Though I completed the 2023 Pride Treasure Hunt, it appears as though I did not get the badge. Would someone be able to take a look / fix this?

>142 chocorua: Nobody has. Badges are awarded manually and they haven't done it yet.

>142 chocorua: Badges are awarded manually - and it can take a few months if the office is especially busy. No one had gotten a badge from this one yet - so please be patient.

>1 AbigailAdams26: For the next hunt, could you mention on the hunt page and the talk thread that badges are awarded manually?

>144 AnnieMod: Understood, my apologies! I can be patient :)

I didn't finish this one, in part because me being a mod/min for LGBT FB groups frequently called me away. (So many haters there). But fun was had - thank you.

Hello All! June is over, and the 2023 Pride Treasure Hunt has now ended. Thank you to everyone who participated this year!

This time around we had 1,186 players, and 675 players finding at least five clues. The average number of clues found was seven.

Our randomly selected winners this year are:

librarian515
reneeg
SC2
ghilbrae
Rebeki

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

>145 amanda4242: I will definitely try to include that in the Talk thread for the next hunt.

>148 AbigailAdams26: Congrats to the winners.

Got the badge today: Pride Pin