The Bear Who Found Christmas by Alan Rodgers
Joey loved his teddy bear so hard and long and pure, so deeply and so truly and so powerfully that the bear began to grow a heart. A spirit heart, made of ghost instead of flesh and blood. It happens to toys sometimes. No one ever notices. When the Bear came alive in the haunted shopping mall, he was all that stood between life and death and Christmas. Alan Rodgers, has taken the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm and the Rev. Dodson, polished its edges here and there, added a pinch of this and a tablespoon of that, and had produced the almost-perfect successor to these 19th Century fables just as the 20th Century was drawing to a close.
This is a strange little story. Part Christmas tale, part horror, I don’t think it does either well. The story is too short to have any real meat to it. I never developed any feelings for the bear, much less his owner.
Strangely enough, part of the horror seems to be the boy’s parents. The father, though well meaning, works too much, so has little time with his son. The mother, who drinks too much, has little sympathy for her child. But Still Bear seems to be enough for her son, and the two of them will always have their love.
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
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Read a Holiday Story - The Bear Who Found Christmas by Alan Rodgers
I Read Horror Year-Round List
*Winter Theme, or winter appearance on the cover (snow, ice, etc.):
1. Ararat by Christopher Golden
*Ghosts or spirits:
1. The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
2. Gad’s Hall by Norah Lofts
3. The Bear Who Found Christmas by Alan Rodgers
*Psychological:
1. The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
2. The Hiding Place by C. J. Tudor
*Monster or Monsters:
1. Snowblind by Christopher Golden
*A body of water (featured in story, on cover, or in title):
1. Duma Key by Stephen King
2. The Listener by Robert McCammon
*Really scary book cover:
1. The Breach by M.T. Hill
2. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
*Woman on cover:
1. Later by Stephen King
2. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
*Written by a woman:
1. The Mummy (Ramses the Damned #1) by Anne Rice
2. The Burning Girls by C. J. Tudor
3. Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
*Written by a best-selling horror author:
1. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
2. The Shining by Stephen King
3. The Cleanup by John Skipp and Craig Spector
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
*Written by an indie author:
1. Echoes of Home by M.L. Rayner
*Historical horror (must be an historical novel written by a contemporary author):
1. Last Train From Perdition by Robert McCammon
*Folk horror:
1. Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon
2. Candlenight by Phil Rickman