Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic

Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic (Toys Go Out #3)

Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky

Random House, 2011

$16.99, Hardcover

978-0375862007

March 7^th, 2012

Genre: Fantasy

Age: 6+

Description: This prequel tells how Stringray, Lumphy, and Plastic all came to be together. Stringray is a late birthday present to a very young Honey and gets introduced to the house by Bobby Dot, a huge stuffed Walrus (and the closest thing to a villain in the series). Bobby Dot teaches Stringray to talk but is loud, arrogant, and won’t let Stingray sleep in the bed with him and Honey. We see how the one-eared sheep lost his ear and learn of how the girl got horribly sick one day which caused the demise of Bobby Dot. When a replacement walrus doesn’t feel right the girl gets to go toy shopping and brings up Lumphy the buffalo. Plastic soon arrives and begins questioning her existence sending Lumphy into a panic until Stingray announces that “we are here for each other.”

Opinion: The “death” of Bobby Dot featured a great line—Bobby Dot gets puked on by Honey and freaks out (the resulting dry clean only wash in the washing machine ended up “killing” him) with Stringray replying, “It is an honor to be puked on by the Girl!” I did a happy dance when I discovered there were three books in this series. There is just something really comforting about these simple stories and the soft illustrations scream to be classics in the future.