Help Needed

[Karen]

I am trying to complete my science book for 10 to 14 year olds called The Pumpkin Project. It has pencil puzzles as well as science Investigations, pumpkin stories, recipes and more.
Some of the puzzles are Pumpkins in Literature and use sentences from various books for puzzles. I had used some published books like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; Song of the Giraffe; It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
I find I must have permission to use these and it is difficult to get.
Do any of you indie authors out there have books for roughly this age range that mention pumpkins or something to do with pumpkins? The book does not have to be about pumpkins only mention them such as growing in the garden or smells of baking pumpkin pies.
Would you let me use a sentence for a puzzle in my book? You would of course be noted with title on the puzzle plus be listed in the bibliography.

[Victoria]

I have a poetry book where the title poem is a poem about a pumpkin. Plus, the 4th book in my "Kero's World" series is a Halloween themed book, and mentions pumpkins. The latter book is aimed at slightly younger readers than yours will be, but can be enjoyed by older readers if they like animal stories.

What do you mean about using a sentence from the book? Do you plan to buy the book, then use a sentence that works for what you want in your book... Sort of like how you would for a review, only needing permission from the author since it's in a publication? Or are you asking for the author to just provide you with quotes?