Winkie

This book was one that I bought mainly because of the so-ugly-he's-cute bear on the cover. I'm not going to lie, that's how I pick most of the books I read. If the picture on the cover doesn't interest me or grab my attention, I don't give the book a second glance. Unless the book's been recommended to me, of course. This time, I was in Borders with Mel and Marissa and we all oogled over cute Winkie on the cover. I wasn't planning on buying anything but Mel opened it up and began to read a random page and we were all laughing out loud. I was sold. Cute bear, funny story? Where do we pay?

The story could probably be explained as a modern-day, grown up version of the Velveteen Rabbit. Winkie is a goofy looking teddybear who was passed down to the author and his siblings by their mother. Winkie is able to will himself to life and finds himself being captured and put on trial for terrorism. The list read by the prosecutors is 9678 charges long (including witchcraft, resisting arrest, treason, etc.) and we see the trial, as well as Winkie's memories of his past, told through his eyes. The story had some laugh out loud moments as well as moments where I wanted to reach through the book and squeeze Winkie to death (so cute!) However, toward the end of Winkie's trial and the end of the book, things got very VERY bizarre (even for my standards!) It just didn't seem like the end of the story meshed well with the first part of it. But that's just my opinion.

Would I recommed this book? Sure. If it wasn't for the first part of the book where I absolutely fell in love with Winkie, then I might consider this $12 wasted. But like I said, the story was cute, witty and I enjoyed the different pictures throughout the book of Winkie and his world.