Review--TEDDY THE BEAR

Review For:
Teddy the Bear, by Billy Young
ISBN: 9781847990686, Publisher: Lulu

After reading the children’s book, Teddy the Bear, by Billy Young, I find myself deeply disturbed. I am not entirely sure which age bracket this is designed for, but my best guess is four to seven years old.
Teddy the Bear relays a tale of the first teddy bear and how he saves a family from a horrid monster.
Normally, I am not over-critical of children’s books, as they are designed for children. However, I’m going to state the issues in this one, as I was extremely bothered. Working first hand with children in a previous profession, and having kids of my own, I may not be an expert, but I know and understand children.
For starters, there were a few grammatical errors in the way of commas needed, which was a bit distracting. The illustrations leaved something to be desired. They were poorly done either by hand, or on a bad computer program. The cover art and back text did not draw me to the book.
The story starts off with the bear going to work for a family while the other bears hibernate. This would have been better to say he liked to visit the family during the winter months instead. It also tells of how this was the very first teddy bear, which I find unrealistic, as the story didn’t measure up to that time or era.
The story then goes on to portray how this family is terrorized by a monster who comes out of the cabinets at night. At one point in the book, the monster bites the Dad on the arm, hurting him badly. Toward the end of the book, the teddy bear bites off one of the monsters fingers to get rid of the monster. Now, this is only teaching children that using violence will solve a problem. There is no need for such brutality or aggression.
When using a story-line such as this, I feel it best to go a different route. If the monsters were breaking the child’s toys, ask the monster how it would feel if his toys were broken. Maybe have the teddy bear scare the monster back to show it how the family felt. Or, simply, demonstrate that the monster was simply looking for attention from the family, as he felt left out. One could even state that the monsters weren’t even real.
The book needs work. The imagination aspect wasn’t bad, but the book needs work before I would suggest it. Children’s tales should be imaginative and creative, but also a learning experience, in some facet. This did not.

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer