These toys are not saccharine or perfect. Each of them have endearing qualities and foibles.
Image source: Paola Zakimi
Characters:
Teddy "He was a brown ball of a bear. He had a furry round brown head with bright buttons eyes, a short brown snout and little brown ears. He had no neck and stubby arms, a round brown belly, and he had lost his legs a long time ago." Qualities - optimist; thinker; explorer; leader; needs to help of others to push his red wagon.
Umpah "a soft grey elephant". Qualities - baker; kind and thoughtful of others; wise.
Sid has a "long striped body ... long thin shape, good for wrapping around branches." Qualities - always hungry; loves to eat muffins made by Umpah; loves picnics.
Peng lives alone in a remote cave."Peng was made all of wood, so it was awkward for him to turn from one side to the other. Also, it was hard for his wooden brain to change the way it thought about something." Qualities: loner; introvert; can be a pessimist; capable of heroism.
Prinny (small pig) "was young and blue and silly ... She had white and gold flowers printed all over her, so everybody wanted to be nice to her." Qualities: happy disposition; kind; gaining confidence.
Zia (large pig) "was as round and as bright a pink as a scoop of raspberry sherbet. Her ears were a deep, dark fuchsia, as were her little hands and her tiny feet. Two black eyes sparkled in her bright pink face, as if she was about to go dancing, and four black stitches ran in a row down her soft pink belly, where long ago someone had sewn up a tear in her shining pink satin." Qualities: Carries an icecream cone; happy to share icecreams with her friends; loves to clean her cosy pink house; mother figure to Prinny.
There are nineteen chapters in this book which can be grouped into four short stories.
Teddy's Idea
Teddy is a thinker. He asks questions. He is sure there must be a world beyond the apple trees so after some discussion he convinces the other toys to set off with him exploring. They make the most amazing discovery about their home because by keeping the sea on their left they somehow eventually find their way back home. Yes they have walked in a circle because their home is on an island!
The arrival of the first stranger and learning to swim
Prinny finds a new toy on the beach. He calls himself Mr B and he is a rabbit with long floppy ears and a ruffled collar around his neck. Mr B is quite rude to the other toys except for Peng but Peng has no interest in making friends with Mr B. Meanwhile, Teddy has been thinking about water and raindrops. He decides Prinny should learn how to swim. Peng can swim, he is a pengiun; Sid can swim; Mr B can swim that's how he arrived on the island; and Umpah can swim. Zia does not support this idea but the friends go down to the water and very carefully and patiently Umph teaches Prinny to swim.
Clara arrives - she is the second stranger
What they saw "was a very large doll seated on a big white wicker chair with a high curved back and wide curved arm rests." Clara declares she is their queen and this gives her the right to set the rules (in the end there are seventeen of them). Clara also wants a palace and she awards titles to each of her subjects such as Royal Thinker (Teddy); Royal Advisor (Peng); Royal Announcer (Sid); and Royal Housekeeper (Zia). Prinny is to be the Royal Princess. After all this nonsense good sense does eventually prevail especially when no one can remember all the rules and Teddy makes a great plan to build the palace.
The rainy days
Teddy wakes up to a rainy day. The friends gather at the pink house to play games but some of the toys are not very good at this and squabbles ensue. The next day it rains again. This time the friends gather at Teddy's house where they invent a play with costumes and Teddy enjoys being the writer and director. By the third day of rain everyone is getting a bit fed up. Prinny notices that Teddy is sad and so she thinks of the most wonderful surprise - a party, a surprise party for Teddy. "Not a birthday party, because it wasn't his birthday, and not a party Teddy gave, because the party was to cheer Teddy up."
Junior classes from the school I visit each week (where I borrow books from their wonderful library) have a theme or focus for one term each year on the topic of toys. There are so many wonderful books about toys but one that caught the eye of the Teacher-Librarian was this one - Teddy and Co. by Cynthia Voigt. Oddly this book seems to be impossible to purchase in Australia even though it is fairly recent (2016). I did a little research and we found a way to contact Cynthia directly to enquire about her book. You may already know I am a huge fan of Cynthia Voigt (Mister Max) (Tillerman books) so we were thrilled when she offered to send a copy of Teddy and Co. to Australia!
Teddy and Co. is a chapter book so it is similar to Winnie the Pooh; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and books by Rumer Godden. This book also reminded me of these picture books:
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