ABANDONED. Book in which balloons were being tied to a platform to float away into the air

[Gregg]

Short story or exceprt read 1995-2000 in middle school.

Utopian society i think, bedsheets are on cranks that create new sheets and probably a description also as to how the sheets were washed on the vessel. The platform was lifted by balloons to float in the sky, self sustaining.

I have been googling for years and no idea yet.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

The balloon thing happens in The Twenty-One Balloons. I don't remember the bedsheets specifically but it sounds like something that would happen in Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead, both by the same author. I wonder if both excerpts maybe were included in a textbook or something?

[Gregg]

Brilliant! I will read them both. Thank you so much!

[Kris]

Here's the Google Books preview of The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois - Lobstergirl's suggestion: https://books.google.com/books?id=air... There are different cover images.

Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead appears to be a short picture book.

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Gregg (OP) was last active on the site in June 2019.