Open Road Media and Net Galley gave me the chance to read this book for review (thank you). It has been published, so check for a copy at your local bookstore. You can now get it in ebook form, too.
I don't know how I missed this when it was first published. I'm not a big fan of Dean Koontz, but I am overly fond of children's books. Now that I have read this, I'm amazed no one has made a movie out of it yet. This would be wondrous on a big screen.
The toymaker is old and his health is failing, but he's still making stuffed animals. Some are the normal animals you find in the stores downtown and some have special stuffing that allows them to come to life. The new toymaker has been chosen, but the old man is wearing down fast and has not told her about the shop and the special toys that help children. When he dies unexpectedly, the teddy bear is the one who gathers the other magical toys and gets them to set out on a long walk to find the lady who is to inherit the shop.
In the meantime, there is another batch of toys hidden in a sub-basement. They are evil and they make things worse for the children they get involved with. When their master died, the good toymaker took over and banished them from the premises. But now he's died...
This is a very definite battle between good and evil. The best part, though, is watching all the toy animals stand up to real animals, the other bad toys, bad people and more as they make their way to the other shop. Even the nephew who starts out interested only in money suddenly realizes there may be more in the world when he keeps seeing the stuffed toys racing from place to place.
The story is busy, a bit chilling, and totally fascinating. I was impressed enough by the reading that I am buying a copy for my personal library. This is one I will re-read. Why don't you give it a try?
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