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Toys come to life in Pocket Bear, featuring a tough-talking cat and a World War I mascot.
Pocket Bear by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Charles Santoso. Feiwel and Friends, 2025. 261 pages.
- Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10
- Recommended For: ages 4-12
The sign outside the dilapidated house reads, “OUR CAT IS A BURGLAR. PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES.” The cat, Zephyrina (Zeph), is proud of the appellation: of prowling alleys and garbage bins and bringing home treasures (not to mention scarfing down restaurant leftovers and scrumptious fish heads). Zeph lives with widowed Elizaveta and her crippled daughter Dasha, refugees from the Ukrainian War now scraping out a living in the States. As some of their burglar-cat’s finds are discarded toys, Dasha has begun a “Second Chances Home for the Tossed and Treasured.” As Pocket explains to new recruits to his squad of stuffies, “Our job . . . is to wait with hope. Always with hope. And while we wait, to care for each other.”
Pocket is a “mascot bear” who traces his origins to the Great War, when he was made to be carried in a soldier’s pocket as a reminder of home. Though small, he possesses a quiet dignity that makes him a natural leader. Zeph is Pocket’s leg-cat and enforcer, if such is needed among the rowdy but loveable collection of the Tossed and Treasured. His latest find, hauled out of a refuse bin behind Catalini’s restaurant, isn’t much to look as, or smell: a plain brown bear with jointed libs and more than a whiff of mothballs. But Pocket immediately sees beyond the spaghetti sauce to what may be one of the first stuffed bears ever made. And a collector, such as the unpleasant Victoria Dankworth, can and will go to any lengths to get her hands on it.
Zeph is our narrator, a cynical street cat with a soft spot for his “owners” (not that anyone could own him) and a devotion to Pocket, his best friend. That’s why it hurts when Pocket seems to develop a closer friendship with the new bear based on certain shared sorrows. Can a self-described sneak thief and sidewinder overcome his natural jealousy to prioritize someone besides himself, for a change? His wisecracking voice, along with short, punchy chapters and a heartwarming conclusion make this a fun read-aloud for chilly autumn nights. And Applegate’s research on the history of stuffed bears, explained in the Author Note, makes an interesting sideline.
Considerations: none
Bottom Line: A warm-hearted story and cozy read-aloud about loss and hope.
Related Reading From Redeemed Reader
- Review: For another story about the secret life of toys, see The Winter of the Dollhouse (starred review)
- Reviews: Other books by Karen Applegate are The One and Only Ivan, The One and Only Bob, Wishtree, and The Doggo and Pupper chapter-book series.
- Reflection: A question you may never have asked: Are Cozy Animal Stories Cozying up to Gay Ideology?
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