Spark and the League of Ursus: Teddy Bears vs Monsters
My wife and I have somehow kept the streak alive of reading out loud to our two kids for what I’m quite certain has been every day of their lives. And I hope that streak doesn’t end anytime soon. It’s a great tradition and a wonderful way to end the day. My son is now 8 years old, and even though he does a good deal of his reading independently these days, my wife and I both also tend to have a different nightly read aloud going at the same time.
After finishing the Harry Potter series with the kids, my wife has been going through a lot of classics, especially classics that have a movie attached to them to watch afterwards - like James and the Giant Peach or Stuart Little. And I’m beginning to work through my favorite fantasy books like The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. As you may have noticed, I’ve always been drawn towards exciting and imaginative fantasy stories - and spooky stories as well.
And while I really adore sharing some of my favorite books with my son, it’s actually incredibly special to stumble upon a new series that we both fall in love with as well. It happened last year with the spectacular Warren the 13th series - which provided us with many nights of memorable father/son read alouds. And it just happened again with another new book series known as The League of Ursus series.
At the moment there are two books in the series: Spark and the League of Ursus, and Spark and the Grand Sleuth. And, trust me, all I have to do is give you a one-sentence description of the series, and you’ll know right away if these books are for you. Are you ready? Teddy bears and other toys fight against monsters to defend the children they are sworn to protect.
If that description strikes a chord with you, like it did with us, you undoubtedly already know full well that these books would make a wonderful addition to your read aloud schedule. How could someone who loves imagination, and fantasy, and spooky stories, and childhood nostalgia resist such a theme? Once again it just seems like a book series that was made just for us.
In fact, it’s the first book series since Warren the 13th where my son often could not resist reading ahead by himself late into the night after I was done reading aloud - and I would have to get caught up before the next night. To me, that’s always a fantastic sign. And I hope it’s a good indication that we’re creating some special memories.
Another thing that I love about The League of Ursus series is that it’s part of the most spot-on boardgame/book pairing that I could ever imagine. I like to pair together books and games as recommendations just for fun, and there’s a board game called Stuffed Fables with a remarkably similar plot - stuffed animals fighting monsters to protect their kids. It’s one of my very favorite board games, and it isn’t officially tied to the books in any way, but I just love the fact that they both exist, and it’s worth mentioning because a lover of one simply must track down the other.
On the very off chance that the concept of stuffed animals defending their child from monsters hasn’t immediately sold you on The League of Ursus series, I’d be happy to tell you more about why we love it so much. First of all, it’s creepy - especially in the beginning of the second book! But it’s not too terrifying by any means. It’s a middle grade book, but also entirely appropriate for my 8-year-old.
The author Robert Repino has also crafted a very engaging world and backstory for The League of Ursus - a secret society of teddy bears sworn to protect their owners that goes back many generations. Their mottos and traditions and their history are well designed and really bring the universe to life.
And of course it’s very important that the characters are endearing, and they certainly are. The main character, Spark, is a teddy bear that takes her job very seriously. She is assigned to a young girl named Loretta, and her old, wise mentor, Sir Reginald, is assigned to Loretta’s older brother, Matthew. It’s a real Luke/Obi-Wan kind of relationship between Spark and Sir Reginald, and they’re both very lovable.
But the real highlight is how much fun the secondary characters are that round out the main cast. For a good read aloud it’s important to have many fun characters with distinctive voices, and one of our personal favorites in Spark is undoubtedly Zed - the cowardly sock monkey. Zed is often the comic relief in these books, and also provides some of the very best and memorable moments.
Another great character is the cocky and over-confidant Rana the Amazon Princess action figure. And the distinct personalities of the other teddy bears, which always reflect the personalities of their owners, are all a lot of fun when they get together.
And the reason these toys are able to get together, despite belonging to different households, is really a great concept and adds a lot to the story. The children in this story are filmmakers, and they get together with their friends to make movies that use their toys as the actors. I appreciate this framing for the story, because the way they talk about their movie making is actually very engaging and inspiring for my son and I - who have begun to dabble in stop motion animation a little. And any inspiration for creativity is always a real pleasure to see.
The general plot to be aware of is that monsters are literally trying to kidnap these children. In fact, some of the kids actually get taken. Obviously nobody in town thinks that monsters are responsible, they just think that the kids have gone missing - but the stuffed animals and toys know better. What follows is a very exciting fantasy story full of imagination and love and loss and interdimensional battles - and growing up.
In fact, the basic underlying emotion of childhood wonder behind the stories is probably a big part of what draws me to it. The toys are brought to life when a powerful bond is made with a child, and the toys reach their “final light” when the child grows up and no longer needs them. In many ways that’s even more tragic than when kids grow up in the world of Toy Story, because those toys still get to stay alive.
But this finality works very well in the world of the League of Ursus, because their entire reason for existing is to protect their children until they are no longer needed. It naturally adds quite a bit of bravery, honor and nobility to very existence of our heroes - and it adds quite a bit of emotion to the necessary reflections on their children growing up. That bittersweet concept of no longer needing a teddy bear is probably lost on my son right now, but it’s certainly front and center in my mind as I’m still happily in the stage of having my child curled up next to me and listening intently to a good book.
Disclosure: Quirk Books provided us with copies of the League of Ursus series. All thoughts and opinions are our own, and we only write about things we love.
Have you discovered any great new read alouds lately? Have you checked out Spark and the League of Ursus yet? Let us know what you think in the comments!
