The Bear

About the Book

David will never forget the day he met Theo—as much as he might want to.

On a mission to right a wrong done to his sister as a child, David walks into LAO Schulz, a famous toy Mecca in the heart of New York City. What he sees that day in the stuffed-animal aisle challenges everything he understands about reality.

As David turns the corner, he hears the sound of slapping. He investigates and sees a rather large stuffed bear viciously smacking a toddler around. As quickly as it starts, the attack ends. The bear regards David with cold, plastic eyes, climbs up on its shelf, and quickly settles into the lifeless pose one would expect from stuffed bears.

Not only is this stuffed bear alive, David realizes, he’s evil.

David decides he must own this bear, and with that, their bizarre relationship begins.

His name is Theo, and he’s got a whopper of a story to further challenge David’s belief system.

Cruelly put to death as a real bear cub, Theo is given a second chance at life—as a stuffed animal. Theo is forced to become a killer as a rising star among the ranks of a secret brotherhood of gangster teddy bears. Betrayed, Theo is left to rot in the slammer.

Theo and his friends conspire to escape. With the loyal Houdini by his side, the gang breathes free air again, but karma, as they say, is no friend to an ex-con.

About the Author

Theodore Shin writes under the pen name David Lee because no one would believe a teddy bear wrote this book. He grew up in Queens, NY, and currently resides in Edgewater, NJ. His hobbies include water polo, and adding to his extensive collection of fedoras. He also devotes a great deal of time to a not-for-profit organization he founded, B.W.A.M.I., Bears With Anger Management Issues, helping teddy bears all over the world cope with screaming children. Any questions, comments, or donations to B.W.A.M.I. may be directed to “David Lee” at iampapageno@gmail.com.