Over the weekend author/illustrator Matthew Cordell posed a question.

One of the most confounding questions children’s literature has yet seen.

If you’ve been to the children’s section at a Barnes & Noble, you’ve probably seen this little guy/gal up on the wall among the other more well-known characters. But what is it? Where did it come from? Who is the artist? Here’s another image:

The folks over at Abebooks tried to figure it out, but are at a loss.

Given the fact that no one can place the character, it tells me one of two things. Either it’s:

What do you think? Can you place it?

(Related question: is it white and gold or blue and black?)