Toy Story 5 Book Fun, But Part of Conflicted Marketing: Review
We’re just a tad more than a month out from the release of Toy Story 5, on June 19, and there’s a constant supply of new merchandise based around the thirty-year-old franchise. That includes Don’t Close this Book!, a lovely interactive title from Random House, released on May 5.
The title reminded me of The Monster at the End of this Book, a classic 1971 Sesame Street title, coincidentally from Penguin Random House’s Little Golden Books. Where Grover pleads you to stop reading the book, afraid of the titular monster at the end, this book features Jessie and the rest of the gang encouraging young readers to avoid the distractions of electronic devices. It neatly keys into the theme of the upcoming film, where the toys’ relevance is challenged by tablet Lilypad, who uses her beeps and flashes to try and lure toys away from the task at hand.
Young readers are presented with actions to do, shaking or rotating the book to “save” the toys during their adventure on the pages. It’s a lively original story.
The only qualm that I have with this book is the on-going contradictions of Toy Story 5‘s marketing. Lilypad is the film’s antagonist, jeopardizing the livelihoods of the characters we’re oh so fond of, yet LeapFrog is releasing a Lilypad version of their tablet, and Belkin has released an official iPad case based on Lilypad. Indeed, this book is available on Kindle!
Lotso is tremendously popular as a character, with tremendous viral success in Asia leading to products recently at my suburban Toronto location of MINISO. But that character wasn’t meant as an indictment of all teddy bears, or even the fictious Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear. It was a case of one such toy growing resentful after an accidental abandonment. While we need to wait to see the movie before passing final judgement, Lilypad is a broader commentary on children, and indeed all of society’s distraction by electronic devices.
None of this should take away from the book, but it is nevertheless a conflict that will likely remain unresolved with this latest chapter in the toy’s story. Without spoilers, it should be noted that this book ends in a charming compromise between ideals and reality.
Applause to author Phaea Crede and illustrator Satoshi Hashimoto for this fun new entry into the ever-expanding Toy Story canon.