Toy Dance Party: Being the Further Adventures of a Bossyboots Stingray, a Courageous Buffalo, and a Hopeful Round Someone Called Plastic »

Emily Jenkins is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books for children, including Toys Go Out, an ALA Notable Book which received three starred reviews. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Paul O. Zelinsky’s retelling of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel received the 1998 Caldecott Medal. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

LUMPHY, STINGRAY, AND Plastic are back! In this sequel to the hugely successful Toys Go Out, the lovable trio finds that their little girl has left for winter vacation and taken a box of dominoes, a stegosaurus puzzle, and two Barbie dolls—but not them. Could she have forgotten them?

As the girl starts to grow up, the three best friends must join together to brave a blizzard, save the toy mice from the vacuum, and make sure that they’ll always have the little girl’s love. (And they still have time to throw an all-out dance party with the washing machine!)

Children's Literature

Lumphy, Stingray, and Plastic are learning that growing-up can be painful...especially for toys that might be left behind. It seems The Girl prefers those awful plastic Barbies. They got to go on vacation with her and to a slumber party, while the one-time most special toys got left at home. Of course, The Girl does not completely ignore them; she even takes the blame for some of their bad behavior, but even with her declaration that she loves them and will keep them forever, the toys know in their hearts that she does not love them as much as she used to. For the moment, just being together is enough for the toys. A delightful tale of the adventures and misadventures of three best friends who brave a blizzard to find The Girl...and do not get much further than a wet soggy hole in the snow. The toys learn to cope with the newest addition to the toy box—a garbage-eating fearsome fiend of the briny deep, a great white shark. The toys even exact some sticky revenge on those Barbies! There is fun and naughtiness and a riotous dance party in the laundry room with Frank, the singing washing machine and Dryer (all better now that the repairman has come). This story has a sweet old fashioned feel, with its soft black and white illustrations that just begs to be read aloud at bedtime Reviewer: Anita Barnes Lowen