The 2020 Maine Treasure Hunt is over. Check back next year.

2020 Maine Treasure Hunt

Welcome to the dog days of summer! We’re having another treasure hunt, this time to celebrate LibraryThing's homestate of Maine, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. We've hidden lobsters () around the site and you solve clues to find them.

  • Decipher the clues below and visit the corresponding LibraryThing pages to find a lobster. Each clue points to a specific page right here on LibraryThing. Remember, they are not necessarily work pages!
  • If there's a lobster on a page, you'll see a banner at the top of the page.
  • You have one week to find all the lobsters (until 5pm EDT, Tuesday August 25th).
  • Come brag about your lobster catch (and get hints) on Talk.

Win prizes:

  • Any member who finds at least one lobster will be awarded a boat Badge ().
  • Members who find all 14 lobsters will be entered into a drawing for one of five LibraryThing (or TinyCat) coaster sets and stickers. We'll announce winners at the end of the hunt.

P.S. Thanks to conceptDawg for the seagull sketch!
He's made all of our treasure hunt graphics in the last couple years. We like them, and hope you do, too!

You missed it

Lobster 1

He’s Maine’s most famous author
And honestly? Not much more need be said.
He writes novels and short stories and epic fantasies,
But is mostly known for filling his readers with dread.

/author/kingstephen-1

Lobster 2

Accidentally shipwrecked on the coast of Maine
These mistreated animals finally got their chance
To escape the cruel circus owner
Due to lucky circumstance.

Though initially scared of the escaped animals
The townspeople learned they were kind
And so they hid them from the circus master within in town
Creating for readers a seek and find.

/work/8205912

Lobster 3

This author won a Pulitzer
(and was long listed for a Booker).
Her Olive is abrasive and complex,
but don't you vex,
don't you pout,
it's Maine's own Elizabeth ____.

/author/stroutelizabeth

Lobster 4

Goodnight you Princes of Maine,
says the doctor to his charges - they'll
come of age in this tale
these Kings of New England.

/work/7863

Lobster 5

A mom and her daughter,
A mama bear and her cub,
both sets preparing for winter
by gathering berries, their grub.

/work/3606145

Lobster 6

When you come here for vacation,
You seek out this tasty crustacaen.
What used to be trash sea bugs
Are now for food selfies, smug.
You’ll need money like a mobster
When you go to order a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

/tag/lobster

Lobster 7

An illustrator, but to our purposes an author thus,
His prolific works mean he’s never had a lie-in.
(First name back then for boys, now more for girls,)
The Isleford resident A[ _ _ _ _ _] B[ _ _ _ _]

/author/bryanashley

Lobster 8

A Tale about a life
Of a woman, a not-mallard
Martha Martha Martha!
A human stork, or a _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

/work/4165645

Lobster 9

Let’s talk about DDT
Let’s talk about PCBs
Let’s talk about all the mussels and the clams down in the sea.
She lived out near old Boothbay,
Changed how we plant and spray,
Her birthday’s at the end of May.

/author/carsonrachel

Lobster 10

From women who seek out claws
Here’s how to feed New England maws.
What to make of your haul,
From an Island so small,
By mom and daughter Greenlaw.

/work/192276

Lobster 11

How to make a more perfect Union
Of his theorized eleven nations?
….is not the purview of this title,
Which hugs a bit closer to Coast.
By a working journo still hailing from Maine
(His pulitzer finalist is nothing to disdain.)

/work/565137

Lobster 12

Way above where the fishing boats sail
And the tourists twitter along the shore.
We pull from the earth the starch in the scale
That nationwide fries and tater tots call for.

/tag/potatoes

Lobster 13

As some many know, Maine once had an influx of
Immigrants Franc[is[-American.
But this book is about those who live(d) on the land now and before.
The Confederacy Wabanaki: Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot
(and a fifth one Western Abenaki).
This children’s book has a boy from the fourth above
(Basket)weaving and learning with love.
Far more than mere Decora(tion),
K[_ _ _] learns his heritage—and determination.

/work/12346413

Lobster 14

How do you measure, measure a life?
In canines, in chew toys, in barks and in frantic vet trips,
In corgis, in schnauzers, in hounds and in labs.
In:
The author, a professor of english, at Colby, at Barnard
Known more for her memoir that came out in ought-four.
A life lived in (big breath) doooooooooooooooooogs.
A life lived in dooooooooooooooooogs.
Life lived in dogs.

/work/23693174