Comments for Tatty Ratty

Tatty Ratty: 02/23/14

There's an old photograph of me —�a bald headed baby with a big grin. I'm sitting with a lamb stuffed animal. Apparently it was my all time favorite snuggly toy, and one I took with me everywhere. Sometime on the way to my grandmother's house on a hot day and the windows rolled down in the car (it was the 1970s and our car either didn't have AC) I either tossed the lamb out or it fell out as we rounded the block.

Anyway, by the time we were at grandmother's the lamb was gone and I was distraught. My family took turns retracing the route they had taken, to no avail. So they did the next best thing, they bought me as close a copy to the one I had lost.

So you can understand why I have a fondness for stories about lost toys — Knuffle Bunny Free by Mo Willems and now Tatty Ratty by Helen Cooper. Like Knuffle Bunny, Tatty Ratty is a beloved stuffed rabbit. And Molly loses him on the way home.

As Molly and her father search for Tatty Ratty, they begin to think of all the adventures the rabbit must be having. Each new piece of the adventure changes how Molly imagines Tatty looking.

So when it becomes apparent that Tatty Ratty won't be found, they had to the toy store for a replacement rabbit. While the father is hoping to find a close replacement, Tatty Ratty has transformed into something different in Molly's imagination. The toy she picks ends up reflecting this new imagined identity.

It's a charming story that blends an ordinary, relatable story that parents and children have probably experienced, with the whimsy of imagination. As they are heading to the store, Tatty is having one crazy adventure after another.

Three stars

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