I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
They Threw Us Away by Daniel Kraus, Rovina Cai Series: The Teddies Saga #1
Published by Henry Holt & Company on September 15 2020
Genres: Middle grade, Fantasy
Pages: 256
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A weird, wild ride of a story about five sentient teddy bears who must work together in order to survive in the wide, wide world.
Did Buddy have two sides? Did every teddy?
He was both magical and ordinary—Made in America but Surface Washable.
He had both a Real Silk Heart and Polyester Fibers, Plastic Pellets.
He didn’t matter at all. Yet he mattered to his friends, right here, right now.
Five teddy bears find themselves knee-deep in garbage in Daniel Kraus’s latest, the start of a new middle grade series that combines hairy adventures, gooey sweet emotional moments, unexpectedly thoughtful musings on life, and even some social commentary. Why did I read an MG book, you ask? Well, I read it because of Daniel Kraus, an author I’ve enjoyed in the past. Also, I thought the concept sounded like fun, and guess what? It was! Also, I want to mention that I never read MG, and so please know that my thoughts come from a place of having no idea what today’s MG books are like.
Furrington™ Teddy Bear Buddy wakes up in a strange place—the city dump. He’s spent his entire life in a box, but now he seems to have been set free. His excitement doesn’t last for long, though, when he discovers he’s lying on a mountain of disgusting trash. Nearby are four other Furrington Teddies, still in their boxes. Once Buddy frees them as well, he and his new friends—Sunny, Sugar, Horace and Reginald—realize they are in mortal danger. Not only are they being attacked by seagulls and bulldozers, but they need an answer to a big question: why would anyone throw away a Furrington Teddy Bear?
Setting off on a perilous journey out of the trashlands to find the Store where they used to live—and to locate some children, because that is a Teddy’s greatest wish, to find a child of his own—Buddy and his friends will brave a highway full of cars, an angry office worker, and a terrifying teddy named Mad, all while learning some harsh life lessons and becoming fast friends.
They Threw Us Away is a very odd book with a strange mix of elements, and I have no idea whether this is typical for a book marketed as middle grade. But I have to say I really enjoyed it! The story has quite a few dark elements, which worked well for me, but some of them seem like they might be a little too much for the younger crowd—although I could be wrong. The darkest of these was the creepy idea of Forever Sleep. Forever Sleep is exactly what it sounds like. Once a teddy is chosen by a child, and once that child hugs the teddy, the teddy will blissfully go to sleep—forever. That’s right, lights out, no more sentience, no more adventures, no more philosophical conversations with other teddies. And this is what teddies long for, Forever Sleep. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like death to me.
You’ll also find a lot of body horror in They Threw Us Away, and folks, that’s something I never thought I’d be writing about: Teddy body horror. Teddies get torn apart by seagulls, put in shredders and ground to pulp, and nearly hit by cars. Sugar loses her eyes at one point and the other teddies tape them back on with packing tape. And let’s not mention what happens when the teddies run into a man cleaning up trash in the park. Of course, teddies can’t feel pain (at least I hope they can’t) so the horror is more of a gentle type of horror, I guess. Nonetheless, readers should be prepared for some wince-inducing scenes!
Balancing out all the bad parts are lighter, sweeter moments. All five teddies bond because of their harrowing experiences, which creates some nice opportunities to talk about friendship, selflessness, helping others and sticking together no matter what. The yellow teddy named Sunny has a teddy code she lives by (“It’s a Teddy’s Duty”), which involves paying others back for kind acts and never leaving anyone behind. Some of the language was a little too sickly sweet for me (“Forever Sleep would make all the scares float away.”) and my favorite Teddy, a pink bear named Sugar whose box was stamped DAMAGED MERCHANDISE because her head is caved in, speaks in baby talk (“We got to get upsy-pupsy!”), which got old, I’ll admit. Although I forgave Sugar for her odd ways because she was just so charming and adorable!
I also liked the story of how the Furrington Teddies came to be, which Kraus tucks into his main story. Reginald seems to know far more than the other teddies, and he’s happy to tell them about their creator, Mother, how they came to be different colors, and even how Mother got the idea to include a Real Silk Heart in each teddy (a la Build-A-Bear Workshop!)
Illustrations by Rovina Cai are scattered throughout, and I thought they added a wonderful, whimsical touch to the story. Cai manages to capture both the horror of the teddies surroundings—including some truly scary looking seagulls!—as well as a playful quality that reminded me of books from my own childhood.
Kraus answers some of the questions he raises, but he also leaves the reader with a couple of intriguing mysteries, like the reason the teddies were thrown away in the first place. The ending has a cool twist that made me want to keep reading this series, which means the author did his job. I guess if I have to read middle grade, I’d want it to be written by Daniel Kraus.
Big thanks to Kaye Publicity for providing a review copy.
I am not the biggest fan of MG but this one seems adorable and original, and creepy (poor teddy bears!!) and the cover is amazing!!
It was so original and that’s why it worked for me:-)
Putting themes like death (even though here they re-name it) and body horror seems a bit too much for the age range of this book, and I wonder how the targets for this story would react to these elements…
Thanks for sharing!
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…TOP TEN TUESDAY: Most Inspiring Fantasy Covers
There’s nothing wrong with preparing young kids for death, or at least introducing it, but this particular idea of Forever Sleep was right out of a Twilight Zone episolde!
Not gonna lie, sentient teddy bears are one of my absolute nightmares.But I like the sound of the illustrations!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…ARC Review: Beauty Tempts the Beast by Lorraine Heath
Ha ha well you should stay away from this!
I would have LOVED a book like this as a middle grader. (Maybe I’ll read it anyway. To heck with being a grownup!)
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…I Sold a Story, Woohoo!
That’s what I was thinking too, this would have been a good one for MG Tammy too:-)
This sounds fascinating, I love the concept. I haven’t been able to read about sentient toys ever since The Velveteen Rabbit broke my heart as a child LOL. Great review, Tammy!
Thanks Lisa! There are definitely shades of Velveteen Rabbit in this story, also Toy Story.
Great review, Tammy. 🙂 I am not sure if I can handle “teddy body horror”, but it does sound fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
Debjani recently posted…Francesca by Gillian Godden – Review & Blog Tour
For a story without any bloodshed, it was surprisingly disturbing, lol.
I do regularly read MG books and this one sounds like great fun. However, I can’t handle anything with illustrations because my very elderly Kindle can’t cope with pictures! It had a complete nervous breakdown with the first book in the Illuminae Files… Which is a shame because it sounds like great fun:)). Thank you for sharing.
There are only a handful of illustrations, maybe about 5 or 6, so not too bad.
It’s not often I’m tempted to pick up a middle grade book, so great job with the review! 🙂 This kept bringing back vague memories of the animated movie, 9, about a rag doll trying to save the world. Very different stories, but they both seem charming in many ways.
Thanks Todd! I think I remember that movie…
I’m hoping to start this one next week, and I’m actually a little relieved to hear it might not be so typical for MG. I definitely prefer children’s books that aren’t as obviously “for kids” and that adults can enjoy as well.
Well I enjoyed it so I guess he definitely made sure that adults could read it too:-)
Okay, I am really curious about this one…lol.
I know you read a lot of MG, you might like this!
Huh. Didn’t even know this existed. Nice review, I’ll have to keep it in mind! But since when do you read MG? And why would you ever HAVE TO? Stop it.
Or don’t
Ha ha I don’t HAVE to, but I read this because of the author. This is the last MG you’ll see on my site for a while;-)
This sounds brilliant. I don’t really read MG and I’d be useless at knowing, or not knowing, how appropriate this is for that audience. I don’t mean to be but I’m such a selfish reader that I just delve into a story and pay little attention to how it would fit for others. Going off the cover I imagine the illustrations must be fantastic and the idea of sentient teddy bears is so lovely.
Lynn 😀
I was surprised how much I liked it. MG for me is usually way too young, but maybe I’m just not reading the right ones.
Man, just the cover of this book gives me the creeps. I had absolutely no idea that this was a middle grade book! How interesting. Oh man, Forever Death sounds … no. What a weird concept, that this is what the bears want, and such a seemingly negative thing happening from a positive thing (a child choosing a bear). This sure does sound like a really cute, charming read, though, and fall seems like a good time for it.