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    Spy Toys
    Spy Toys
    Spy Toys
    Ebook180 pages1 hour

    Spy Toys

    By Mark Powers and Tim Wesson

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Toy Story meets James Bond in this action-packed book that's perfect for young readers looking for humorous, illustrated middle-grade.

    The world's leading toy manufacturer gives each toy it creates a tiny, computerized brain and a unique personality making for some seriously awesome toys. But sometimes there's a faulty toy . . .

    Dan is a "Snugliffic Cuddlestar" bear--he should be perfect for hugging. But because of a malfunctioning chip, Dan is so strong he could crush a car. Thrown into the rejects pile, he meets Arabella, a "Loadsasmiles Sunshine" doll, who has a very short temper. Soon Dan, Arabella, and Flax (a custom-made police robot rabbit) are recruited by the head of the toy world exactly for what makes them unfit. And their first mission is a doozy: to protect a senator's eight-year-old son from being kidnapped.

    With black-and-white illustrations throughout, this hilarious book has reluctant reader appeal written all over it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJan 16, 2018
    ISBN9781681197104
    Author

    Mark Powers

    Professor of Psychology, University of Texas Austin. Director of Trauma Research at Baylor University Medical Center. He is a federally funded investigator of studies of exposure therapy, a published author with more than 100 chapters and papers, a member of the scientific council of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, a Beck Scholar, and Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

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    • 5/5
      Thank you to @kidlitexchange for the review copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ?????Spy Toys by Mark Powers. What kid doesn't imagine their favorite toys would come to life? In this action packed chapter book that's exactly how the world works. A group if misfit toys bands together and is sent on a mission to protect Sam from being kidnapped. Ben a teddy bear too strong to cuddle kids, Arabella a rag doll with a short fuse and is mean, and Flax is an AWOL police bunny. Villains that will keep you laughing and on edge, come to life toys and wonderful illustrations to help imagine the story unfold will make you want to see more Spy Toy adventures soon! Review also posted on Instagram @jasonnstacie, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Go Read, and my blog at readsbystacie.com

    Book preview

    Spy Toys - Mark Powers

    CHAPTER ONE

    IF HUGS COULD KILL

    It was a normal Tuesday morning at the factory of Snaztacular Ultrafun, the world’s biggest toy manufacturer. Hundreds of conveyor belts whirred and clanked, carrying thousands of gleaming new toys toward the brightly colored boxes in which they would be packed and delivered to shops. Balls, bikes, building blocks … dolls, dominoes, ducks … whistles, walkie-talkies, water pistols—the factory made them all.

    Snaztacular Ultrafun’s toys were not like the ones made by other companies. They were much cleverer and much more fun. Every toy contained a tiny computerized brain that gave it a personality and allowed it to walk and talk as if it were alive. They were the ultimate playthings: bikes that took you home if you were too tired to pedal, soccer balls that wanted to be kicked, board games whose pieces tidied themselves away once you had finished playing with them, dolls that acted just like real people. Children went crazy over them.

    A red light flashed on a control panel. An alarm hooted.

    Yikes! cried a white-coated technician who had been monitoring that morning’s toy production, leaping out of his chair in surprise and banging his knee on the leg of his desk.

    As each toy trundled on its way along the conveyor belt, it underwent a complicated series of scans and tests to make sure it was working properly. The company was rightly proud of its products, and it wanted each toy to be perfect for the child who would eventually play with it. The red light meant a fault had been detected in one of the toys. And if the technician let a faulty toy leave the factory, he would get in big trouble with his boss.

    Rubbing his knee, the technician examined his computer screen. The system had detected a problem with one of the Snugaliffic Cuddlestar teddy bears. The Snugaliffic Cuddlestar line of teddy bears was the most advanced money could buy. The bears could sing lullabies, tell bedtime stories, bring you a glass of warm milk—but most of all they were designed for cuddling. When you hugged one of these bears, it actually hugged you back. In a world where many parents were simply too busy to do trivial things like hug their children, the teddy bears sold in their millions.

    The technician jabbed a button on his control panel. A huge metal claw descended from the ceiling and snatched the faulty teddy bear from the conveyor belt.

    The teddy bear’s eyes flickered open. He had been expecting to find himself in a cardboard box, rattling along the road in the back of a truck on his way to a toy store. Instead, he saw that he was in a dingy metal room. There was a table, a chair, a computer, a half-eaten ham sandwich. But no children to play with. He frowned. What was going on?

    The door opened and the white-coated technician entered. He was carrying a large object that was hidden under a white sheet. He placed the object on the floor and consulted his computer screen.

    You are Snugaliffic Cuddlestar serial number 427935, yes? Made this morning?

    The teddy bear nodded. Yep.

    It says here you’ve been assigned the name Dan. Is that correct?

    That’s me, said the teddy bear. All Snaztacular Ultrafun toys were given individual names to help make them unique.

    Well, Dan, it’s like this. The computer says you’re faulty, and it’s up to me to find out whether it’s something that can be fixed. We have a reputation for making the best toys in the world, and we can’t let shoddy merchandise out into the market, can we?

    Whatever you say, pal, said Dan the teddy bear. He wasn’t interested in boring stuff about markets or companies’ reputations. He was programmed for fun.

    Good, said the technician. Let’s get started. He whipped the sheet off the mysterious object he had brought with him.

    Dan’s large brown eyes widened in surprise. The object appeared to be a little girl with a miserable expression and outstretched arms. She looked in serious need of a hug.

    The technician rapped his knuckles on the girl’s head. It made a hollow metallic sound. This is a hug test dummy, he explained. The electronics inside it will tell us how good you are at hugging. Pressure, duration, snuggliness, and so forth. Kindly hug the dummy for me, Dan.

    Dan dashed forward. This was more like it! He was made for hugging, and now he had a chance to do some! He embraced the dummy girl in his furry arms and gave her a good squeeze.

    There was a screech of wrenching metal followed by a loud bang. Dan stepped back, shocked. The dummy girl fell to the floor, her back bent horribly out of shape, her arms twisted at alarming angles and smoke pouring gently from her ears.

    The technician raised his eyebrows. Oh dear.

    What happened? asked Dan.

    The technician waved a small electronic device over Dan’s head. The device bleeped, and the technician consulted a little screen set into it. Ah. Just as I thought. Unfortunate.

    What is it?

    You have a faulty snuggle chip. It’s telling your robotic limbs to use a thousand times the usual pressure. In simple terms, you don’t know your own strength. I’m afraid you can’t be allowed near children. He gestured to the twisted remains of the hug test dummy. "Imagine if you did that to a real child. That would not

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