Ollie's Odyssey

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The writing was in the POV of either Billy or Ollie, and I thought it was well done by William Joyce. He was shuffled from room to room through the maze of hallways that made up the hospital where he was born. The friendship between the boy and his toy (it's like a bear, but with long rabbit ears, a kind of bear-rabbit his mom made when he was just a baby) is beautifully told and shown, you get to see their little games, their wordplays, their joys and little sadnesses and many many quotable quotes (I don't have the book on me right now, so maybe I'll add some later, but believe me when I say that they're beautiful. In a rousing climax, Ollie and his loyal junkyard allies overcome Zozo and free the toys: "Okay," he tells his troops, "Our plan is gonna be: do some Robin Hood, and some Use the Force Luke, and some Trojan Horse, and some.

Billy finds a whole junkyard full of living discarded objects (see Down in the Dumps), Ollie meets a sentient tin can after escaping from Zozo, and in the old amusement park, Billy finds the horses of the merry-go-round are alive.Readers know that he has been abducted by miniature mechanical henchmen and taken to the lair of Zozo, an eerie clown ruined by his own bitterness.

What you don't expect is the beautiful and somewhat terrifying characterizations + drawings of the friends and enemies Ollie meets during his capture.Ollie, a stuffed bear with bunny ears, is one brave, loving, special little toy and, more importantly, he's Billy's favorite - the highest honor in the toys' world. Many children's books have been written about the secret life of toys, but Joyce's storytelling and original characters elevate this novel. Billy’s mother had a keen eye and a mother’s instinct to guide her as she made this funny little rabbit toy.