Flurry The Bear

As it turns out, I’m not the only one who has written about living stuffed animals. J. S. Skye already has five books out featuring Flurry, a magically-animated teddy bear cub whose vanity (and bad luck) get him into all sorts of adorable trouble. Book descriptions of later episodes have him travelling back in time and fighting evil pandas. This is what caught my attention. The first episode is The Christmas Wish, and this is the one I read.

It is not elves, but living teddy bears that make toys at the North Pole for Christopher Kringle (who hates being called Santa). Every so often, he brings a new one to life. The bears live much as humans, getting married, living in heated houses, and eating (recreationally – they have no need of organic calories). They can even produce tears when sad. The first episode explains Flurry’s origins, his moving from the North Pole, and his meeting many friends.

The book is very sweet and the Flurry character is totally adorable. He gets so excited to go shopping that he runs out of the house without the list – but at least remembers to go back to hug his mother. He experiences many of the same sort of child-adult misunderstandings that my character Nathaniel does, and this gets him into trouble. Even the way his internal thoughts were described reminds me of my work. I liked it. Skye definitely captured the feeling of childhood and more than a little bit of the magic of Christmas.

I love cute stories about children, but cute stories about living stuffed animals from the north pole just might be better. As the series progresses, Flurry the teddy bear encounters Christmas magic, sword fights, and discovers his destiny. A great fantasy story.