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It’s been a rough few weeks for me. Without getting into too many specifics, my youngest dog had a routine surgery that turned out to be not super routine, and his recovery has been even less smooth. He’s doing ok now & should hopefully be 100% soon enough. 

But I’ve spent over two weeks in an extremely heightened state of anxiety/worry/vigilance, and it’s taken a toll. 

And in the midst of all that were two or three books that meant a whole lot to me & kept me sane. And probably none more so than THEY THREW US AWAY, a middle grade fantasy novel by Daniel Kraus that captured my whole entire heart. There were many nights where I woke up in the middle of the night & couldn’t get back to sleep, worried sick about my dog, and this book was there for me. So this one feels really special & important to me, and serves as a great reminder of just how powerful and comforting a book can be during a rough patch. 

I read WHALEFALL in 2023 & was obsessed. I genuinely think that book is an outright masterpiece & one of my favorite books of all time. Naturally, I started buying more of Daniel Kraus’s books! The next one I read was BENT HEAVENS, which was a bit of a mixed bag for me, and I never actually got around to reviewing it. 

I got my copy of THEY THREW US AWAY on Pango kind of on a whim. And what actually prompted me to start it was a recent email newsletter from Daniel Kraus that mentioned book two in the series, THEY STOLE OUR HEARTS, was about to be completely out of print. So of course I immediately went & bought books two & three of THE TEDDIES SAGA, and I’m glad I did! In the newsletter, Kraus mentioned how proud he is of these books & how much he loves them. He also sounded hopeful about regaining the rights to the series at some point & maybe publishing some epic TEDDIES omnibus, so here’s hoping! 

At any rate, there was a confluence of events that lead me to start THEY THREW US AWAY, and I knew within the first few pages that this was a deeply special book. 

Our main character is Buddy, a blue Furrington Teddy with a Real Silk Heart. When the book opens, Teddy wakes up in an unfamiliar location, a massive garbage dump. He’s not in his box. He’s not at the Store. 

He’s also not alone. There’s a small group of  Teddies, all waking up with no idea why they are at the dump instead of at the Store. Buddy is joined by Horace, Sugar, Sunny, and Reginald. They all have their own unique personalities/quirks, and they each make important contributions to the quest. All these Teddies have known is just waiting at the Store. They wait & wait & wait, in the hopes that a child will select them. Once chosen, the child will hug the Teddy, and the Teddy will go into their Forever Sleep.

But now they find themselves in the trashlands…they’re confused, terrified, filthy.

Lost.

If I’m honest, I can’t think of many (or any?) middle grade novels I’ve read that don’t say Star Wars on the cover. But I gotta think this is probably about as dark/weird/occasionally bleak as it gets for middle grade? Which is great! Kids like weird/dark stuff, and they are more than equipped to handle a book like this. But yeah, wow. This one goes to some super emotional places. 

Buddy is a great main character, as he struggles with his role as the de facto leader of this group of discarded Teddies. He’s always pushing himself to be the best version of himself, and be kind to his friends. But the stress of the different situations the Teddies find themselves in pushes them all to their limits & things get really tense. There’s just a lot here to dig into, in terms of characters coming together in the worst of times. But Kraus doesn’t shy away from showing how a high-stress environment can bring out the worst in us. 

This was one of those books for me where I knew I was going to love it almost as soon as I started it. But the more I read, the more I got obsessed with it. And even though it’s been a little while since I finished it, this book is not done with me. There’s something so incredibly beautiful & macabre & moody about this one. I’m really gonna make an effort to read the rest of the trilogy really soon & something tells me this will wind up being a new favorite of mine. 

Also, huge shoutout to Rovina Cai, not just for the gorgeous cover art, but for some really incredible interior illustrations throughout the book. She has such an instantly recognizable style & has done some of the most amazing covers over the last few years, so it was really cool to read a book full of her great artwork!

I loved every last thing about this book. All the stars in the world for THEY THREW US AWAY!