Help! Do you know this book?
Jami Wilson
author, or much about the story. I just remember I loved it and think
about it every now and then. I'd love to find it. Let me see if I
remember... I think there was some kind of spooky house at the end of
a street and beside it was a tunnel, kind of a time warp, that led to
a magical land (think Narnia) where things were edible (gum tree with
actual gum!) that aren't usually. The child (can't remember boy or
girl) was guided by a bird of paradise that was an actual bird. I
think they slept on hammocks, there was something about some kind of
strange hat the child wore. Sorry, hardly the necessary details to
find it BUT does anyone recognize any of this????
Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll
forward it into rec.arts.sf.written as a YASID (Yet Another Story ID).
That often works..
Ted
--
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columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..
Jami Wilson
> In article <298c2096-5a62-42b7-a14c-03fdb6783...@m38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,
Thanks for your help! I don't know why I've become so obsessed with
finding this book but it's tough when you just barely remember it. I
appreciate it!
Kris Baker
news:7jlan3F...@mid.individual.net...
Here's a list of "time travel" books, and more than one could fit
the description.
http://www.dpls.lib.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=235
See also the stories on this list --
http://logan.com/loganberry/stump-mn.html
Kris
Christopher Henrich
t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:
Here's an example of "far-fetching." It is a very long shot, but
wotthehell wotthehell wotthehell...
The Garden of the Plynck. By Karle Wilson Baker, pub. 1920. A children's
book, as they say. The adult Theodore Sturgeon raved about it. The
University of Buffalo library has a copy (Yea Buffalo)
If the word "dimplesmithy" rings even the faintest bell. this is IT.
--
Christopher J. Henrich
chen...@monmouth.com
http://www.mathinteract.com
"A bad analogy is like a leaky screwdriver." -- Boon
Robert Carnegie
> In article <298c2096-5a62-42b7-a14c-03fdb6783...@m38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,
>
> >I read a book probably 25 years ago and can't remember the title, the
> >author, or much about the story. I just remember I loved it and think
> >about it every now and then. I'd love to find it. Let me see if I
> >remember... I think there was some kind of spooky house at the end of
> >a street and beside it was a tunnel, kind of a time warp, that led to
> >a magical land (think Narnia) where things were edible (gum tree with
> >actual gum!) that aren't usually. The child (can't remember boy or
> >girl) was guided by a bird of paradise that was an actual bird. I
> >think they slept on hammocks, there was something about some kind of
> >strange hat the child wore. Sorry, hardly the necessary details to
> >find it BUT does anyone recognize any of this????
>
> Doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll
> forward it into rec.arts.sf.written as a YASID (Yet Another Story ID).
> That often works..
For "Colourful bird takes a bunch of children to a weird magic place"
try
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Talking_Parcel>
The other detail I think I remember in /that/ one is that the magician
(?) did his clearest thinking at dawn - apparently there really are
people like that - and this when he was a student! - so his land,
island, whatever, was lit by four permanent sunrises in different
colours, in four different directions.
As for making random stuff around you be food, well, he was probably
enough of a normal student to be kind of lazy. /That/ reminds me of
whichever Terry Pratchett novel takes us to the Island of the God of
Evolution, who clearly missed the point. But if your stomach rumbles
then the tree next to you tries to grow hotdogs in buns, that sort of
thing.
Other outside possibilities are _Five Children and It_ and _The
Phoenix and the Carpet_, either in that or opposite order, "It" being
a small "Sand-Fairy" that painfully and reluctantly inflates itself in
order to grant wishes (?), the carpet also being magic and nearly worn
through and involved, along with the phoenix (there's your fancy bird
maybe: "bird of paradise" /is/ real, Wikipedia says so, but live ones
haven't had the feet cut off for, uh, whyever, which puzzled Europeans
a lot) - involved with the same children, I think?
/Those/ stories had teleportation rather than a tunnel, mostly.
David DeLaney
>> >I read a book probably 25 years ago and can't remember the title, the
>> >author, or much about the story. I just remember I loved it and think
>> >about it every now and then. I'd love to find it. Let me see if I
>> >remember... I think there was some kind of spooky house at the end of
>> >a street and beside it was a tunnel, kind of a time warp, that led to
>> >a magical land (think Narnia) where things were edible (gum tree with
>> >actual gum!) that aren't usually. The child (can't remember boy or
>> >girl) was guided by a bird of paradise that was an actual bird. I
>> >think they slept on hammocks, there was something about some kind of
>> >strange hat the child wore. Sorry, hardly the necessary details to
>> >find it BUT does anyone recognize any of this????
>
>Phoenix and the Carpet_, either in that or opposite order,
No, neither one of them fits the above at all.
>"It" being
>a small "Sand-Fairy" that painfully and reluctantly inflates itself in
>order to grant wishes (?),
Yep. Real live wishes. Its name was the Psammead. And granting wishes tired it
out...
>the carpet also being magic and nearly worn
>through and involved, along with the phoenix (there's your fancy bird
>maybe: "bird of paradise" /is/ real, Wikipedia says so, but live ones
>haven't had the feet cut off for, uh, whyever, which puzzled Europeans
>a lot) - involved with the same children, I think?
And _The Story of the Amulet_.
Dave "also see: The Enchanted Castle" 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.
Andrew Plotkin
> On Oct 14, 7:51�am, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:
> > In article <298c2096-5a62-42b7-a14c-03fdb6783...@m38g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>,
> > Jami Wilson �<jamiwilso...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > >I read a book probably 25 years ago and can't remember the title, the
> > >author, or much about the story. I just remember I loved it and think
> > >about it every now and then. I'd love to find it. Let me see if I
> > >remember... I think there was some kind of spooky house at the end of
> > >a street and beside it was a tunnel, kind of a time warp, that led to
> > >a magical land (think Narnia) where things were edible (gum tree with
> > >actual gum!) that aren't usually. The child (can't remember boy or
> > >girl) was guided by a bird of paradise that was an actual bird. I
> > >think they slept on hammocks, there was something about some kind of
> > >strange hat the child wore. Sorry, hardly the necessary details to
> > >find it BUT does anyone recognize any of this????
> >
> > Doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid, but it sounds like a fantasy, so I'll
> > forward it into rec.arts.sf.written as a YASID (Yet Another Story ID).
> > That often works..
>
> For "Colourful bird takes a bunch of children to a weird magic place"
> try
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Talking_Parcel>
I considered that, but I don't *think* the rest of it fits. However,
it's been long enough that I might have forgotten about hammocks and
gum trees.
If the cockatrices were allergic to rue extract, and the wizard was
named Hengist Hannibal Junketberry, it was _The Talking Parcel_.
The other obscure YA portal fantasy that's worth checking is _The Last
of the Really Great Whangdoodles_, by Julie Andrews or Julie Edwards
(depending on edition, and yes, the actress). It has a Whifflebird, so
maybe that fits.
--Z
--
"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
Kris Baker
It would help to at least know how old the OP was, when
they first heard this story.
Kris
Jami Wilson
>
> - Show quoted text -
That might be it! The whifflebird sounds so familiar and when I looked
up the cover it looks like what I have stuck in my head. THANK YOU SO
MUCH EVERYBODY for all your help!!!! What an awesome group!
Thank you Thank you Thank you - I can finally sleep at night! : )
Robert Carnegie: Fnord: cc talk-origins@moderators.isc.org
> Robert Carnegie <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
> >Other outside possibilities are _Five Children and It_ and _The
> >Phoenix and the Carpet_, either in that or opposite order,
>
> No, neither one of them fits the above at all.
>
> >"It" being
> >a small "Sand-Fairy" that painfully and reluctantly inflates itself in
> >order to grant wishes (?),
>
> Yep. Real live wishes. Its name was the Psammead. And granting wishes tired it
> out...
>
> >the carpet also being magic and nearly worn
> >through and involved, along with the phoenix (there's your fancy bird
> >maybe: "bird of paradise" /is/ real, Wikipedia says so, but live ones
> >haven't had the feet cut off for, uh, whyever, which puzzled Europeans
> >a lot) - involved with the same children, I think?
>
> And _The Story of the Amulet_.
>
> Dave "also see: The Enchanted Castle" DeLaney
In case of interest, BBC Radio 7 just repeated a dramatisation of
_Five Children and It_, which you may be able to hear online till the
week end, depending on where you are. I don't know if there are any
other stories from the source coming up.
Oh, they also just had a reading in two half-hour episodes of "The
Diary of the Rose" by Ursula K. LeGuin.