Teddy & Co.

By Cynthia Voigt

ISBN: 9780553511604

Author website: http://www.cynthiavoigt.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Kayt

Synopsis:

Teddy is a thinking kind of bear. Of all his friends, he does the most wondering. He lives with a ragtag group of lost toys—a very hungry snake, an elephant who likes to bake, two charmingly silly pigs, and a reclusive penguin—and they all bump along happily together. But their peaceful world gets shaken up when new toys arrive—first a rabbit, who is not as soft and floppy as he looks, and then a beautiful doll with royal ambitions. Will the newcomers learn to fit into the community? Or will the community be forever changed by them? As Teddy the philosopher would answer: Yes.

Review:

Well I have to say I am not sure if this is what young children are reading these days, but it seemed a bit darker than what I remember as a child. I also think that affected the way I perceived Teddy & Co.

I enjoyed the disabled Teddy (a stuffed bear with no legs that is wheeled around by his buddy the elephant in a wagon) and his thinking. Some characters were not pleasant to me at all. I am sure there is supposed to be a lesson of tolerance in there somewhere, but I am afraid younger children may miss that and look at the benefits of being a brat seen in the doll that shows up. All that said, I am sure it would be enjoyable to young children and maybe even being read by an adult to even younger kids.

I did not have the benefit of the final illustrations, however the sketches were quite cute. The book seemed to drag on a bit and would have benefited in my opinion to being much shorter. I remember children having short attention spans. It seems to be just on the cusp of being a wonderful tale, but misses the mark.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*