Two of the favorite books around our house the past few months are The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex, and The Mysterious Benedict Society (the first and second books in the series), by Trenton Lee Stewart. For his English class, my son is writing an essay about the second book by Stewart. In it, he compares the bucket of...stuff carried by one of the character's, Kate, to the toolbox carried by J. Lo (an alien Boov) in Smekday.

Basically, if you haven't read the books (and why haven't you?!), both the bucket and the toolbox contain anything and everything their owners could possibly  need to fix an engine, rescue a cat, or escape any bad guys. Think, as the post title says, Mary Poppins suitcase.

We were on a relatively long drive back home today, from a weekend away, and we got started talking. What ELSE is like the bucket, or the toolbox, or Mary's bag? We came up with a few.

-Elmer's backpack in My Father's Dragon (by Ruth Stiles Gannett and Ruth Chrisman Gannett)
-Q's lab in the James Bond books/movies
-MacGyver's pockets

Obviously, it's a great construct and has its roots in something way back when--Aladdin's lamp? A fairy godmother's wand? Here's the thing, though. I KNOW there are more examples "out there," in books I've read, or fairy tales I've heard, or even Disney movies I've watched a hundred times. And I can't think of them. It's like that patch of poison oak rash on your back, just past the point you can reach.

Any thoughts or memories to help fill in my blanks?