The Vine: November 6, 2009
I was hoping your readers could help me find two books that have been on the tip of my mind for years.
The first is a children’s book about an anxious lop named Chuck.The tagline of the book is from his fellow lops, who, when he got upset, would say, “Take it easy, Chuck, let your ears hang down,” which has become family slang, but the book itself has disappeared. I have no idea what it is called, but would like to get my dad a copy for his birthday.
The other is truly silly. It’s a sci-fi book that was part of a series, although I only read the first one. A teenage girl accidentally time-travels. She’s friends with a professor, and it’s through his experiments, I believe, that she is sent back, and there’s almost certainly a love interest.
I remember there being a line like: “I’m just a normal teenager who loves Bon Jovi!” I’m sure it’s an atrocious read, but it ended on some kind of cliffhanger, and I would love to go back and satisfy my curiosity.
Chuck
Tags: Ask The Readers Bon Jovi bunnies popcult
The second book is Swept Away, the first of the Secrets of the Unicorn Queen series. Each book is by a different author, so google the series. They are kinda cheesy, but it’s early 80s cheese, so YMMV.
OOOOOOH!!!!! I finally know one! The second book is The Secret of the Unicorn Queen, by Josepha Sherman. I know it’s part of a series, which it took me forever to find the rest of (and I only read number 2) because they’re by a different author. (It’s not just time travel, though, it’s to an alternate dimension. But I am SURE that it’s the same book!) I LOOOOOOVED that book so hard when I was ten.
Spot on, I can’t believe you guys got that on so little information, especially since I somehow forgot the presence of unicorns???!?
I’m so excited to find them.
Hmmm…No luck so far with the lops. I keep coming up with the “Leo the Lop” series by Stephen Cosgrove.
Natalie, well, I only read it 15 times, you know… And spent years trying to find the rest of the series, lamenting that I’d missed my chance to buy all six at once and wouldn’t ever read them oh woe is me how could my parents not have bought me all six books RIGHT THERE IN THE AIRPORT!
Oh my god, the UNICORN QUEEN BOOKS.
There are six of them, I think written by six different authors (hello, wildly varying tone shifts) and I loved the crap out of them when I was a kid.
My parents still have them all, so I did a reread not so long ago. Cheese-covered cheese dipped in fondue and yet so awesome.
I did some creative googling, and it looks like your story about the lops appeared in an anthology called Big Bear’s Treasury, possibly under the title “Tumult the Rabbit,” written by David Lloyd. (Unfortunately, the Google Books preview is so stingy it’s hard to confirm anything.) Does any of this sound right to you? It looks like it may have also come out as a standalone book.
Hopefully it’s enough information to spark the memory of someone else here, or your local children’s librarian or bookseller.
@Colleen: YES. That is it! Your google fu is not to be messed with.
Thank you so much Vine readers!
Big Bear’s Treasury is in my local library system so I recommend Chuck check his local system for it. It’s not at my local branch so I can’t just run over and look at it. I requested it so I should have it next week – my son might like it as well. I’ll post when I get the book and check out the story.
I believe the Rabbit book is “Tumult the Rabbit” as Colleen said, but the original anthology appears to be called “Great Escapes”, and it’s by David Lloyd. There are a few used copies on Amazon.com, but it’s no longer in print, and appears to be a British book.
This Link lists a few used copies.
Glad I could help, Chuck!
Here is another link for used copies of Tumult the Rabbit, some of which appear to be cheaper than via Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ylgmcln. Via abebooks.com.
Hey all – the books having been identified, I just want to add that my favorite place for finding both new and used books is http://www.addall.com; it compares prices from all different sellers (including Amazon Marketplace, Half, Abebooks, etc).
Heh, the copy of my library is the 4th Big Bear’s Treasury and does not have the story after all. The stories it does have look cute though.
OK, no, wait wait wait — there were MORE Swept Away books, and they involved UNICORNS? Whaaaaaaat?
I remember the one about the girl who invented the time travel gizmo (on, like, her Apple IIc) and went to the antebellum South; the one about her friend who became a starlet in the 1930s, the one about her other friend who went to the 50s to authenticate some Elvis-related guitar provenance to save her uncle’s music store, and the one about her other friend who went to the 60s because yay hippies were awesome. But that’s all. Not a unicorn among them. Y’all gotta splain me this unicorn shit.