Revenge of the Living Ted
Barry Hutchinson, illustrated by Lee Cosgrove
Stripes Publishing

This is the sequel to Night of the Living Ted and it’s every bit as good a tale.

Early on in the story we meet  Bearvis, Dad’s birthday gift styled on his favourite singer who plays a significant role later on.

A little while after, Lisa Marie and Vernon are just leaving Drake’s house having discovered that he remembers nothing – so he says – of their previous teddy bear filled adventure, when two pairs of rough furry hands throw bags over their heads and bundle them into the back of a car.

The next thing they know is that they’re sitting chained up in what looks like from the clues they spot, the boardroom of a successful business establishment.

Suddenly in bursts a strangely shaped man who introduces himself as Ursine Kodiak. Said character boasts that he’s the genius responsible for building the machine that brought monstrous teddy bears to life and then was able to eradicate the events surrounding them from the memories of those involved.

Then he takes the two children into his bear-filled factory and starts blabbing on about Mummy Bear (from the Goldilocks story which he misremembers), artificial intelligence and other alarming things. Furthermore he wants to enlist Lisa Marie’s help with his future plans for saving the world and things really seem dangerous. Should she become his Executive Senior Assistant?

Let’s go no further with this smashing fast-moving, fur-filled farce, but just say that it’s sure to fire up enthusiasm with readers and listeners – it’s a terrific read aloud – and along the way might introduce youngsters to some exciting new vocabulary. To add to the enjoyment, the text is liberally sprinkled with dramatic illustrations by Lee Cosgrove.

Roll on the third adventure.