Actually trying to remember a story. Over the holidays I heard some kids complaining about going back to school. Basically, what's the point if you can look stuff up on the internet.

I thought, what you going to do if the internet/communications are down?

But, back to school. What is school? Learning yes but I think one of the biggest reasons is socialization. Teaching kids how to interact with the world and others.

A long time ago, I was able to tell co-workers/employees on approximately what page in what manual to find information they needed. Loved Trivial Pursuit because I could memorize most of the cards and did pretty good at counting cards with a lot of other games. Over all I was better than average at memorization. Don't know what the future holds but a lot of relatives died of old age and still had their faculties. But the use or loose it is true. I don't need that stuff anymore so it was deleted to make room for current events.

Memories can be triggered by such oblique things. What has this got to do with looking for a story?

Well, I think I remember a story where the characters, while in a different world, visited a school where self paced learning was done in booths. Students spent their education time in the booths learning what the state wanted them to know.

The main characters, David and his sister Sally, travel from world to world through portals they find. Under a big rock, a formal gateway and other places. They have a companion most of the time that is a small human like wren. Sometimes they become like the species they meet, sometimes they are two girls, sometimes they are big and sometimes they are small. I think once they traded bodies.

Sally finds a dreamers ring that leads to many adventures.

I think when they visited their companions world, to see someone who knew about portals. I think the wrens lived in community tree apartments.

They also got a portal detector or something like that from a professor at a university on a different world.

They are always in search for the portal home. They do make it back home in the end and David keeps his last special ability.

Gee, this almost sounds like Alice in Wonderland x Quantum Leap x Sliders.

I've racked my brain as well as done several searches on the various sites. I'm sure it was a TG story and not something from a paper back sci-fi.