Trying to find a children's story
swebber
this rock, he could imagine a place in the world, and the rock would
take him there. All I remember is that the rock was described as blue
and shiny, and took this boy to any place he imagined as long as the
rock was in his hand. I can't remember the title or author, but I
loved this story. Any ideas?
Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Nope, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll forward it into RASFW which
has a pretty good track record..
Ted
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..
Caleb N. Diffell
> >I read a book as a child about a boy who had a blue rock. When he held
> >this rock, he could imagine a place in the world, and the rock would
> >take him there. All I remember is that the rock was described as blue
> >and shiny, and took this boy to any place he imagined as long as the
> >rock was in his hand. I can't remember the title or author, but I
> >loved this story. Any ideas?
Any chance it was a GREEN rock? Because I recall reading "The Green
Futures of Tycho" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Green_Futures_of_Tycho) and the rock allowed time (and distance, I
think) travel.
lal_truckee
> In article<06f6cda5-7529-4632...@y11g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
> swebber<sarahwe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I read a book as a child about a boy who had a blue rock. When he held
>> this rock, he could imagine a place in the world, and the rock would
>> take him there. All I remember is that the rock was described as blue
>> and shiny, and took this boy to any place he imagined as long as the
>> rock was in his hand. I can't remember the title or author, but I
>> loved this story. Any ideas?
>
> Nope, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll forward it into RASFW which
> has a pretty good track record..
I wonder if there might be a distant memory of The Dreaming Jewels by
Theodore Sturgeon convoluted into this YASID? Shiny magical blue stones
and kids kind of fit... except the story is about "kids" not for kids.
Kris Baker
(also emailed)
swebber: Are you here?
You have questions about the book you're asking for help with.
Kris
swebber
> In article <06f6cda5-7529-4632-8758-125e7f7e2...@y11g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
>
> swebber <sarahwebber1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >I read a book as a child about a boy who had a blue rock. When he held
> >this rock, he could imagine a place in the world, and the rock would
> >take him there. All I remember is that the rock was described as blue
> >and shiny, and took this boy to any place he imagined as long as the
> >rock was in his hand. I can't remember the title or author, but I
> >loved this story. Any ideas?
>
> Nope, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll forward it into RASFW which
> has a pretty good track record..
>
> Ted
> --
> ------
> columbiaclosings.com
> What's not in Columbia anymore..
Thanks, I appreciate it! Did they find anything with this description?
swebber
I checked this book out on Wiki, but's it not the one :( thanks for
trying though!
swebber
> On 9/1/10 11:00 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>
> > swebber<sarahwebber1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I read a book as a child about a boy who had a blue rock. When he held
> >> this rock, he could imagine a place in the world, and the rock would
> >> take him there. All I remember is that the rock was described as blue
> >> and shiny, and took this boy to any place he imagined as long as the
> >> rock was in his hand. I can't remember the title or author, but I
> >> loved this story. Any ideas?
>
> > Nope, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll forward it into RASFW which
> > has a pretty good track record..
>
> I wonder if there might be a distant memory of The Dreaming Jewels by
> Theodore Sturgeon convoluted into this YASID? Shiny magical blue stones
> and kids kind of fit... except the story is about "kids" not for kids.
I checked this book out, and you're right, this is definitely not
written for kids :) kind've this idea, but this was a children's story.
swebber
I'm here :) I apologize for the delay. None of these findings are
right but they are getting close! This book was definitely a
children's book, so it would have been safe to read for young kids.
The books mentioned above aren't for kids.
Robert Carnegie
with a hero coincidentally named Merlin, a prince of Amber and recent
college graduate. Amber is considered the centre of a range of magic-
flavoured parallel universes, one shading into another, called
Shadows, one of these being planet Earth. (Which raises purely
physical scientific considerations where basically you need to suspend
disbelief, as is routine in sci-fi.) People with the natural ability,
such as the family that rules Amber, can walk between the Shadows at
will, and you may also be able to do so using the properties of
certain blue stones, either following a Shadow-walker or being led to
a location to which the stones are attuned.
These are novels for adults, maybe "young adult", with sex (sketched
over) and violence, but I wonder if Zelazny used a version of these
stones in another story. Not _A Dark Traveling_, I think, which is
for children.
I think he also wasn't the only writer to associate a character named
Merlin with being trapped in a cave, which I think is where the stones
were extracted, so maybe a certain other Merlin should be considered,
in various fictional incarnations.
By the way, was the setting of the story modern, or historical, or
fantastic? I'm now trying to remember whether the magic one-world-to-
another teleportation rings in _The Magician's Nephew_ depended on
magic stones set in them, and that was a prequel set in the past -
Victorian or Edwardian - compared to _The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe_, and of course /that/ isn't your story.
David DeLaney
>By the way, was the setting of the story modern, or historical, or
>fantastic? I'm now trying to remember whether the magic one-world-to-
>another teleportation rings in _The Magician's Nephew_ depended on
>magic stones set in them, and that was a prequel set in the past -
>Victorian or Edwardian - compared to _The Lion, the Witch and the
>Wardrobe_, and of course /that/ isn't your story.
They did not; they had a yellow and a green variety, but no actual jewels/
stones set in them. (They were made from a kind of magical dust, which I
think originally came from the Wood Between the Worlds...)
Dave "if a tree falls in that Wood, and falls into a puddle, where does it
end up?" DeLaney
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
Brian M. Scott
<rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote in
<news:e7b51fcb-503e-42c0...@q2g2000yqq.googlegroups.com>
in rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.sf.written:
[...]
> Not _A Dark Traveling_, I think, which is for children.
YA, but hardly 'for children'.
[...]
Brian
Robert Carnegie
> On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 03:41:05 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
> <news:e7b51fcb-503e-42c0...@q2g2000yqq.googlegroups.com>
> in rec.arts.books.childrens,rec.arts.sf.written:
>
> [...]
>
> > Not _A Dark Traveling_, I think, which is for children.
>
> YA, but hardly 'for children'.
That's an interesting point. I don't know what scale to use in rabc
there, really. Slightly more challenging - in content and reading
mode - than the first Harry Potter book?
Zelazny this time has the first-person character pause to explain some
moderately complicated point to the reader, but also he's kind of
straining at the leash sometimes to chase down details that add
atmosphere but don't advance the story and are kind of confusing.
But this isn't the book we were looking for, and neither is the one
other most accessible one of his that I know and like, _A Night in the
Lonesome October_, which is a sort of contest between monsters. But
even less a book for the "nursery"!
Kris Baker
Thanks for coming back!
Can you remember anything else about the book?
Hardcover, softcover, a story in a book, or a storybook?
How long ago did you read it?
(You don't have to tell us how old you are - ha ha)
Was the book/story new then?
Perhaps in a school book?
Kris