Using the word oddball as part of the title of a book is likely to attract some attention. That’s certainly true for one book in the Albert Lea Public Library. That book is, &uot;Oddball Wisconsin, A Guide to Some Really Strange Places,&uot; by Jeremy Pohlen, which was published in 2001 by the Chicago Review Press.

Now I have no intention of writing a book review. Instead, we’ll just feature a few of the oddball attractions over in Wisconsin which are either famous or fairly close to this area.

It has been implied that the only roadside attractions in the flatlands between Chicago and the Black Hills on I-90 are the Wisconsin Dells and the Corn Palace and Wall Drug in South Dakota. Folks here in southern Minnesota obviously have a different opinion.

Pohlen devotes a whole section in his book to describe some of the oddball tourist traps at the Dells. In the introduction he writes, &uot;There is no place … with a higher concentration of weirdness than the Wisconsin Dells …. this type of fun doesn’t come cheap. You’ll find museums for robots, UFOs, and snakes; water-ski thrill shows and haunted mansions; amphibious troop carriers (the &uot;ducks&uot;) and bungie towers; and more go-carts, miniature golf courses, and water slides than you can shake a block of fudge at …. The Dells used to be weirder. As the region expands into Wisconsin’s version of Orlando, some of the quirkier (old) attractions have met the wrecking ball.&uot;

Another popular destination in Wisconsin is the &uot;House on the Rock&uot; between Spring Green and Dodgeville. This 30-acre collection of odds and ends includes the world’s largest carousel and enough alleged memorabilia items to fill several dozen large museums.

Bringing this listing closer to this area, here are some more oddball attractions on the other side of the big river.

Across from Wabasha and to the north near the town of Pepin is the &uot;Little House in the Woods&uot; where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in 1867. The present cabin is a modern replica.

Going south along the river on State Highway 35 in the towns of Nelson, Cochrane and Fountain City are separate versions of rock gardens.

Also in Fountain City, about seven miles north of Winona, is the &uot;Rock in the House.&uot; In 1995 a 55-ton boulder smashed into the back of a house in this hillside town. The folks who owned the house decided it was cheaper to operate a tourist attraction than to have the big rock removed from the back door area.

There are several oddball attractions in La Crosse, including what was once the &uot;World’s Biggest Six-Pack.&uot; At one time the six storage tanks held up to 22,000 gallons of Heileman’s Old Style Lager and were painted to look like giant beer cans. Now the Heileman Brewery is past history and the tanks have been painted over with a generic white paint.

To the east of La Crosse about 25 miles and just north of I-90 is the city of Sparta. And on the east side of this city is the F.A.S.T. Corp. Those initials are for Fiberglass Animals, Shapes and Trademarks. This firm is the nation’s largest producer of outdoor sculptures, and the place where so many of the oddball critters and symbols in Wisconsin, Minnesota and elsewhere in the nation originate. Pohlen says many of the molds and even completed sculptures are visible near this firm’s plant.

One of the oddball items Pohlen didn’t mention in his book is the large big-wheel bicycle statue in Sparta, reportedly the &uot;World’s Largest Bike.&uot; This symbol is supposed to emphasize the city’s location on several hike and bike trails.

To close off this column about the book featuring at least 220 of the oddball attractions in Wisconsin, we’ll highlight a place which has been mentioned in the Tribune newsroom. This is the &uot;Mustard Museum&uot; in Mt. Horeb, a town between Dodgeville and Madison. This salute to the pungent product is a combination of an exhibit for more than 3,400 types of mustard, plus the inevitable gift shop.

In the next column we’ll feature some of the magnificent monuments and assorted sculptures in this part of Minnesota.

Tribune feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.