Invasion of the Living Ted

November 15, 2020
Following Revenge of the Living Ted (2020), villainous teddy Grizz returns with a new evil plan. Lisa Marie and Vernon are endlessly interrogated by Agent Strong, who refuses to tell them where the government has their teddy friends Bearvis and the Duds. Meanwhile, Grizz, now an artificial intelligence living in Ursine Kodiak's head, forces his unwilling host to do his evil bidding. At the worst possible time for the human heroes, Grizz strikes with a device (using "an incredibly clever blend of advanced science and dark magic") that animates all teddy bears and gives them personalities modeled after his own. Their flight from the bears takes Lisa Marie, Vernon, and bully Drake through a variety of horror-movie tropes. Before they can get away, Drake's turned into a duck (the pun's pointed out). When the heroes reunite with Bearvis to infiltrate Grizz's new base--Buckingham Palace--they discover both his plan to use the Tedinator to animate all the teddies in the world and the King Kong-esque Mega-Ted that Grizz's minions are building to be his new body. Since they can't beat Grizz with brawn, they lean on Lisa Marie's intellect. While the general trajectory's similar to previous installments, the ridiculous action (with key moments illustrated) and silliness carry the day right up to the thrillingly inconclusive ending. Human principal characters present White. Unapologetically zany and wacky, with the biggest-scale disaster yet. (Science fantasy. 8-12.)

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December 1, 2020

Gr 3-7-Just when you thought the world had been saved from a villainous force of evil teddy bears, and things were getting back to normal-here comes the most gigantic, mammoth, evil villain teddy bear of them all! Brother and sister Lisa Marie and Vernon embark on the most terrifying yet humorous adventure to end all adventures. Hutchison and illustrator Cosgrove take readers on the final ride of a battle between kids and evil teddy bears. Think there is no way a bear can come alive, become evil, and take over everything, including modern technology? Well, here's a bear that can take over wireless tech! Will Lisa Marie and Vernon be able to end this charade of evil stuffing once and for all? Or will the bear have the last evil laugh? Fans of the first two installments will be excited to read the final book of this trilogy. Geared towards readers in upper elementary grades, this series will appeal to those who like a good scare, as well as a good laugh. VERDICT Purchase where the previous volumes are popular.-Megan Honeycutt, Univ. of West Georgia, Carrollton

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