Daren King

This is a case of a supporting character stealing the show: the Tinby is the most strange and wonderful character in the whole book.

Quotes

The Tinby thought too, but no one knew what it was thinking, as Tinbys think in colors and shapes. (9)

The Tinby was cool, so cool that it sometimes smelled of mint. (26)

...the Tinby, their Tinby...but there was a coldness in its eyes....It was a wild thing now, and would live alone in the brambles, guarding its medals and dancing its mad Tinby dance. (39-41)

"I wonder why it climbed in there," Paul said, scratching his ears. "Perhaps it thinks it's a cork."
Actually the Tinby thought it was a spaceship, but that is not why it was in the bottle. (52)

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Re-read w/ 3.5yo kid April 2019. She liked it but didn't quite make it all the way through. Still a clever story though. (And for those concerned, they aren't REALLY mouse noses on toast: they're bits of marzipan painted to look like noses, sold by mouses to humans, and the mouses are paid in cheddar cheese.)… (mer)