By Robert Repino
Amazon rating: 3.9/5, grades 4-7
Good Reads: 3.84/5;
Common Sense Media: not reviewed
4Rbooks: 3/6, grades 5-8
205 pages
Synopsis:
Loretta and Matthew are filmmakers. They have already won a community filmmaking award, and they have their own YouTube channel. They have quite the imagination, but even they can’t imagine what’s coming.
Loretta thinks Spark, her teddy bear, is just a lovable, cuddly stuffed animal, but at night, Spark is her protector. She becomes a fierce warrior who keeps Loretta and the family safe from monsters. She has learned how to be a valued member of the League of Ursus from Sir Reginald, the protector bear of Loretta’s brother Matthew.
Life seems simple enough until the evil monster Jakmal comes to the house. He has already taken their friend Sophia and then kidnaps Matthew, too. He is coming after Loretta next. Spark, with the help of her friends Zed, Lulu, Ozzie, Rana, and Sir Reginald must protect Loretta at all costs, and hopefully rescue Matthew and Sophia at the same time.
Parental Guidance: medium-high
A couple of fart jokes.
The use of the acronym OMFG by one of the children.
Children in danger including the disappearance/kidnapping of a boy and a
girl.
The kidnapper may be a monster from another dimension, or it might be a
real-world monster.
Battle scenes between the toys and the monster.
Stories are told by the bears of times when children were regularly
kidnapped from their homes by monsters.
Recommendation:
I thought this was going to be a fun, fantasy novel for elementary students about stuffed animals that come alive at night and have adventures protecting children from the monsters in their imaginations. It turned out to be a darker and more foreboding tale. While it’s fun imagining the stuffed animals sneaking around the house at night and preparing the house to fight against the monster (think Toy Story meets Home Alone), the dangers the children are in cannot be minimized. It is especially creepy at the end when it is never fully developed if the monster who kidnapped the children is otherworldly or a bad man in the neighborhood. There is also a moment at the end where Spark feels sorry for Jakmal the monster which again, is an awkward sentiment considering the overall tone of the story.
This is
definitely for mature readers only. Sensitive children, especially those who are worried at night about things that hide in the closet, should not read this book.
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