“… this cheerful fantasy includes much of the playfulness remembered by everyone who has ever maneuvered military miniatures… I really enjoyed the characterization of the Britains and other figures depicted, and their steadfast adventures against the odds, and would recommend this book to any toy soldier collector.”
James Opie (The Great Book of Britains – A Hundred Years Of Britains Toy Soldiers)
James Opie (The Great Book of Britains – A Hundred Years Of Britains Toy Soldiers)
Full Review
MARCH OF THE TOY SOLDIERS
Reviewed by James Opie (The Great Book of Britains – A Hundred Years Of Britains Toy Soldiers)
This is a spirited story of human frailty and redemption captured in the animation and escape of the toy soldier collection at the back of a New York antique store. Reminiscent of Watership Down and Toy Story, but played out in Central Park, and clearly inspired by Steve Balchin’s Burlington Antique Toys on Madison Avenue, this cheerful fantasy includes much of the playfulness remembered by everyone who has ever maneuvered military miniatures. The good guys and the bad guys of early youth are brought to life as we once made them re-enact our imagination, and if the resulting story is a little more nuanced than those we devised in our early days, so much the better for us readers in these older and hopefully wiser years.
I really enjoyed the characterization of the Britains and other figures depicted, and their steadfast adventures against the odds, and would recommend this book to any toy soldier collector.
MARCH OF THE TOY SOLDIERS
Reviewed by James Opie (The Great Book of Britains – A Hundred Years Of Britains Toy Soldiers)
This is a spirited story of human frailty and redemption captured in the animation and escape of the toy soldier collection at the back of a New York antique store. Reminiscent of Watership Down and Toy Story, but played out in Central Park, and clearly inspired by Steve Balchin’s Burlington Antique Toys on Madison Avenue, this cheerful fantasy includes much of the playfulness remembered by everyone who has ever maneuvered military miniatures. The good guys and the bad guys of early youth are brought to life as we once made them re-enact our imagination, and if the resulting story is a little more nuanced than those we devised in our early days, so much the better for us readers in these older and hopefully wiser years.
I really enjoyed the characterization of the Britains and other figures depicted, and their steadfast adventures against the odds, and would recommend this book to any toy soldier collector.
“The adventure story unfolds at a breakneck pace… it filled me with the same delight and sense of wonder I remember feeling when I first read “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton or “The Indian in the Cupboard” by Lynne Reid Banks.”
Sally J. Hessney – Toy Soldier & Model Figure Magazine.
Sally J. Hessney – Toy Soldier & Model Figure Magazine.
Full Review
MARCH OF THE TOY SOLDIERS
Reviewed by Sally J. Hessney - TOY SOLDIER & MODEL FIGURE MAGAZINE – TSMF 246 – February 2020
I’d wager that most toy soldier collectors have entertained fanciful ideas about what their figures do when left alone at night in darkened rooms. In his enchanting book, “March of the Toy Soldiers,” author Carson Morton describes figures who stir after midnight to clean and repair equipment, fence, ride horses, huddle around campfires, brew tea, and go to dances.
Capt. Croxford of the Royal Engineers is a dashing, one-armed hero who is smitten with the brainy and beautiful Nurse Sharpe. They are quartered with other toy figures on the shelves of a glass cabinet in a New York City bookshop, including pioneers, Highland bagpipers, Prussians, circus performers, Royal Marines, hussars, Life Guards, Indian cavalry lancers and others.
The adventure story unfolds at a breakneck pace, precipitated by a blaze in the bookshop that propels Croxford into action as he rallies the others to work together to escape from the cabinet and lower themselves to the floor. The soldiers get engulfed in a torrent of water disgorged from a fire hose and swept out the door onto a city sidewalk.
The plucky captain and his comrades must navigate a dangerous new world of trampling feet, gaping storm drains and squealing tires. They reach the dubious safety of Central Park, where they’re ambushed by sinister squirrels who have allied themselves with pestilential pigeons. Croxford, Nurse Sharpe and the others must deploy their ingenuity, battle smarts and weaponry to combat these enemies on a field of battle, where their diminutive stature puts them at a decided disadvantage.
Featuring a cover photo by William Hocker, this is a middle-grade book perfect for readers ages 8-12. The novelist paints a magical and evocative picture of Central Park as seen through the eyes of 54-mm metal figures. He crafts thrilling scenes involving a miniature hot-air balloon, a Great War biplane and even a toy fire boat on The Pond. The ground-level perspective is bound to enchant young readers and inspire flights of fancy.
It filled me with the same delight and sense of wonder I remember feeling when I first read “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton or “The Indian in the Cupboard” by Lynne Reid Banks. Morton breathes life into the toy soldiers, creating a memorable cast of characters more vivid than the nameless and faceless humans on the periphery of the action.
This book is sure to spark wonderment among collectors’ children and grandchildren, like our Lola and Gus, when they gaze at toy soldiers marching across shelves and imagine what they might be up to after the lights go out.
MARCH OF THE TOY SOLDIERS
Reviewed by Sally J. Hessney - TOY SOLDIER & MODEL FIGURE MAGAZINE – TSMF 246 – February 2020
I’d wager that most toy soldier collectors have entertained fanciful ideas about what their figures do when left alone at night in darkened rooms. In his enchanting book, “March of the Toy Soldiers,” author Carson Morton describes figures who stir after midnight to clean and repair equipment, fence, ride horses, huddle around campfires, brew tea, and go to dances.
Capt. Croxford of the Royal Engineers is a dashing, one-armed hero who is smitten with the brainy and beautiful Nurse Sharpe. They are quartered with other toy figures on the shelves of a glass cabinet in a New York City bookshop, including pioneers, Highland bagpipers, Prussians, circus performers, Royal Marines, hussars, Life Guards, Indian cavalry lancers and others.
The adventure story unfolds at a breakneck pace, precipitated by a blaze in the bookshop that propels Croxford into action as he rallies the others to work together to escape from the cabinet and lower themselves to the floor. The soldiers get engulfed in a torrent of water disgorged from a fire hose and swept out the door onto a city sidewalk.
The plucky captain and his comrades must navigate a dangerous new world of trampling feet, gaping storm drains and squealing tires. They reach the dubious safety of Central Park, where they’re ambushed by sinister squirrels who have allied themselves with pestilential pigeons. Croxford, Nurse Sharpe and the others must deploy their ingenuity, battle smarts and weaponry to combat these enemies on a field of battle, where their diminutive stature puts them at a decided disadvantage.
Featuring a cover photo by William Hocker, this is a middle-grade book perfect for readers ages 8-12. The novelist paints a magical and evocative picture of Central Park as seen through the eyes of 54-mm metal figures. He crafts thrilling scenes involving a miniature hot-air balloon, a Great War biplane and even a toy fire boat on The Pond. The ground-level perspective is bound to enchant young readers and inspire flights of fancy.
It filled me with the same delight and sense of wonder I remember feeling when I first read “The Borrowers” by Mary Norton or “The Indian in the Cupboard” by Lynne Reid Banks. Morton breathes life into the toy soldiers, creating a memorable cast of characters more vivid than the nameless and faceless humans on the periphery of the action.
This book is sure to spark wonderment among collectors’ children and grandchildren, like our Lola and Gus, when they gaze at toy soldiers marching across shelves and imagine what they might be up to after the lights go out.