The Brave Little Toaster

The Brave Little Toaster #1

by Thomas M. Disch

Feeling abandoned by their beloved master, a vacuum cleaner, tensor lamp, electric blanket, clock radio, and toaster undertake a long and arduous journey to find him in a faraway city

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Short Stories, Middle Grade

78 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1980

About the author

Poet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genuine, or entirely illusory, astral flight and his hero has to survive until his lover comes back to him; both are stunningly original books and both are among sf's more accomplishedly bitter-sweet works.

In later years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disch clearly had a rather tense relationship with God, who is notorious for His sense of humor. I can hear the conversation.

God: Tom, they're going to make a movie out of one of your books!

Disch: Oh thank you Lord, fame at last! Which one?

God: Gotcha! The Brave Little Toaster.

Not that there's anything wrong with this book, or the movie for that matter, but the irony is exquisite.

["toaster" Kurt Kanarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a testament to how inanimate objects like myself can still be brave. Back when I was a young heating coil, my Manufacturing Overlord Machine, or M.O.M. would read this book to me each and ever day, to help me be brave once I left the production line. This book has also helped me get through hard times, like last Tuesday when I accidentally burnt the Eggo's and my owner threw me out the window in rage caused by lack of breakfast, I am currently homeless, but thanks to this book I can stay in the middle of my ex-owners backyard knowing that as long as I am brave nothing can happen to me. Except yesterday when his dog started gnawing on my power cord... I hope that dog dies soon...

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read The Brave Little Toaster in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction when it appeared in the August, 1980 issue and was a little amused and bemused; I thought it was a cute little story for kids but wasn't sure why it was in F&SF. (I liked the cover by Gahan Wilson, and read it to one or the other of my oldest kids, who would've been five or six.) I was bemused and a bit confused when it won some awards and was on both the Nebula and Hugo ballots... cute story for kids, sure, but why was it up for best of the year in a category it didn't fit? And then I was, you know, when it became a very popular and successful film. I still don't know what was there that I missed, but it's a cute kids' story. Ironic that it was Disch's best known, most popular, and only filmed work.

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Brave Little Toaster was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction which I think is an important point. Its first audience was for adults and not children. The tone of the tale is rather melancholy if cute and, while I totally understand why children love it, I believe it is first and foremost a fantasy tale for adults. In the years, it has been elevated to classics status despite the really poor Disney film that was ripped from this cute but quiet novella. Avoid the movie but please read this book. Then read it to your kids, and their kids, and so on.

[Peacegal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ask some people about an important, life-changing film, and they are likely to name something such as The Godfather. For me, that film is The Brave Little Toaster.

I watched Toaster on the evening of its premiere in 1987 and have no doubt seen it hundreds of times since. It was, and remains, my all-time favorite movie. And while I no longer make construction-paper appliances as I did in elementary school, I continue to collect "Toaster" memorabilia. I'm clearly not the only kid who was thrilled by the adventures of Toaster, Kirby, and the rest--the Internet has a healthy community of now adult "Toaster" devotees.

This is the book that inspired the animated film. I still have the copy my mom and I special-ordered at a long-gone bookstore soon after I saw the film. Recently, I found my yellowing copy and decided to re-read it.

I still remember the confusion I felt upon seeing the cover illustration. I had come to know the characters as their animated incarnations, which look almost nothing like the book's interpretation.



The movie follows the book's same basic plot, although it ends quite differently. The movie's writers added quite a bit more peril to the book, such as the climactic terrifying scene at the dump. The book has a bit of an old-fashioned feel, as another reviewer has commented--at one point, the Radio even makes a Polish joke!

It probably sounds strange to say "The Brave Little Toaster" influenced the direction of your life, but I'm going to say it--I think this movie had more influence upon me than any other media I viewed as a child. I rate this book 5 stars because it gave us the movie, and the world of animation would be a dimmer place without it.

[Axolotl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical of Disch, the story is inventive and sensitive. Yet, untypically--from the books by this author which I've managed to read as yet (I plan to read all of his books sooner or later and first fell in love after reading Camp Concentration)--it is tender and very cute. However, despite the interesting conceit and the simplicity of the tale itself, I wouldn't say that it was truly written for the under ten crowd necessarily. Though I suppose, if the children in question possess prodigious vocabularies and attention levels, they might fare just fine with it. But from my experiences with this age group, I would say that such a reader, at such an age, is an extreme rarity. The language and sentence structure of the book seemed unnecessarily (almost willfully) complex at times for a child, and I think most would end up switching off as a result. It makes me wonder if Disch intended it as a "kids" book best enjoyed by adults. On the other hand, children do not have to understand every word of a bedtime story in order to remain engaged and it is good to expose them to unfamiliar language constructions to ensure the future literacy of the human race, which many seem to fear is slipping ever steadily downward.

[James Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written with all the formality and eloquence of a children’s book from the nineteenth century, The Brave Little Toaster is the story about five appliances in a remote, abandoned cabin who travel across the forest to find their master. Think Homeward Bound, but with a toaster, a hoover, an electric blanket, a radio and a lamp.

These ordinary household appliances are in the forest on a journey to find their master. Most appliances just sit alone and accept their fate, but not them. They love their master, and they're not going to believe they've been abandoned. They take matters into their own hands, all thanks to the toaster who pushes them out the door.

The story charmed me. It’s written like Bambi and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the old-style children’s story format makes it seem more authentic. Even perfectly natural. It just takes for granted that appliances come to life when people aren't looking. It never explains itself, which encourages us to accept it and move on.

It loosely creates the world of the inanimate objects. It imbues appliances with hopes, dreams, and even fears, all related in some way to their function. Each appliance sees the world a little different. For example, the blanket is not too friendly with the air conditioner because the blanket doesn’t have any good feelings for an appliance whose function is to make things colder. It makes sense. It's how an appliance would think.

One of my favorite details is the description of the the toaster taking time out to be by itself and toast pretend pieces of bread, since it lacks real bread or english muffins. The way it’s described made me feel the toaster's joy, feel its hope. Toaster wants to give its all to its master, and just thinking of toasting a perfect english muffin for him fills the toaster with glee. It’s adorable!

But first they have to survive the pirates! People who steal appliances from their rightful owners and force them to do their bidding instead! And when the radio is held hostage by a pirate in the junkyard, they will have to break a couple rules to free him. Nope, these appliances do NOT accept their fate! They're calling the shots now!

After everything they go through to find their master, it ends, appropriately, like a fairytale. It’s such a cute little story that everyone can identify with. The appliances want to be useful. Probably the most basic need of any animate or inanimate object. They want to serve their master, and they’ll go to any length to find him. It’s a story I read with a smile.

I did a book/movie comparison on my blog.

[Nape · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The surest way to solve a problem is to think about it."

Pareidolia, the book.

I have absolutely no idea why I felt like reading this. I was reading about Don Bluth on Wikipedia and somehow ended up on the page for The Brave Little Toaster, then found out that it was based on a book--which I didn't know. For some reason, that just made me feel like sitting down and reading this whole book. (Well, more like listening to it on YouTube, since this book is out of print and the only copy I could find was for $400 on Amazon.)

So, yeah; it's a Sunday night and I just felt like revisiting the story that might have jump-started my childhood pondering about sentience and the inevitability of death. The genesis of my existential dread, most likely.

The Brave Little Toaster doesn't read at all like a children's story. Like it pays lip service to being childlike, but it honestly comes across like a much more substantive affair. (I'm not trying to devalue children's literature, don't get me wrong. I've learned a lot about it over the past year.) I'm just saying that it only seems aesthetically like a kid's book. Beneath that, it's both a comedy of errors about a toaster leading a bunch of appliances on a quest with lots of clever jokes and also a subtle meditation on impermanence, as well as fear of death. I mean, as most reviewers on here have pointed out, the original story was published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and nominated for both a Hugo and a Nebula award. This doesn't mean it's NOT a children's story, but I think it's proof enough that it functions on more than one level, which I think really elevates it.

Actually a really awesome book. The end brought a little tear to my eye.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many years ago I saw a video of the animation of this story in a shop and loved the title, but didn't buy it. I ran across the original story the other day so I gave it a look. It pretends to be a bedtime story, but for appliances, not children! And the text is definitely not directed towards small children, what with the squirrels and their obsession with the male/female divide and their dubious taste in jokes.

The story can be read on several levels, and interpreted as a fable denouncing today's disposible society, a parable about teamwork, or what it is--simply a bit of fun. The appliances, as well as the animals they come into contact with, are very human--perhaps too much so; how can a toaster or a lamp pick something up, unless they have prehensile flex? But suspend disbelief, place your tongue firmly in your cheek, and enjoy.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful story, the appliances are real and funny. They have feelings, emotions and character. I fell in love from the first page to the last. Kudos to Mr Disch.

[Blair Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little story. But surprisingly, I like the movie even better!

[agustine archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I urge every single person to read this book. I grew up with the movies, and didn’t really think of them for a long while. However rewatching the first now, I noticed it was a book first. I had to read it because is adored the movies and I’m an avid reader, so I know if the movies were this good the book must be spectacular. And I was correct! The author of this piece is brilliant and as an author myself I marvel at his writing and creativity. I strongly advise if you’ve seen this review, please read the book, and watch the movies. It won’t disappoint.

[Valeria Chiñas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story to get kids familiar with Science Fiction.

[Hawkledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant and wonderful fantasy, one which appeals to a wider readership than its style might at first suggest. Written in the style of a children's fable and manifestly intended as a short instructional tale for children, tipped off by the second part of its full title A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances—the incongruity of five household appliances (a tensor lamp, an electric blanket, an alarm clock radio, a Hoover vacuum cleaner, and the brave little Sunbeam toaster—leader to the others and who never gives up hope in the face of danger) together on a quest to find their former owner, appears to resonate with the young at heart alike.
Disch recounted how he was unable to get the story published as a children's book at first, because publishers thought it too “far-fetched”, even after the author had sold it to Disney as a film. The film contains many differences from the book but is essentially the same story, though the ending differs; in the novel, the appliances trade themselves away to an old ballerina who needs them, while in the movie they are reunited with their former owner.
The sequel, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, ups the ante with the Brave Little Toaster and his companions travelling to Mars to stop an invasion from hostile appliances who have a colony there. This too was made into a film.

The novella contains several memorable passages, distinguished by the presence of terrific incidental characters that popup along the way: a daisy who can only speak in verse, who mistakes his reflection in the toaster as another flower and falls in love. A similar moment occurs in the film with a Narcissus flower, except that this flower does not speak.
A pair of squirrels Harold and Marjorie who the appliances meet in the forest, and who help the blanket out of a tree after being blown away in a storm. They are unable to comprehend the idea of appliances or the fact that they being merely appliances have no gender, although they are fascinated by the blanket's warmth and the toaster's ability to roast acorns.
The City Dump Owner who finds the appliances, just as they are about to use his boat to cross a river, he takes them back to the city dump, throwing all the appliances except the radio into the heap. The toaster plans an escape for them all by having the four of them pretend to be a ghost and scare the man away.
Included is the former owner of the five appliances, who they all revere. The appliances eventually learn that he has a mistress, and that they spend their holidays out at sea instead of the former owner’s cottage because of the woman's hay fever. They also learn that the cottage will be sold and they will each be auctioned off soon. Coming to terms with the fact of having fulfilled their duty to their owner, they look for a new home where they will be needed and can stay together.
The remarkable turn of fate in the late stages of the story is the clinching moment of this fascinating, evenly written and rewarding tale, taking the reader on a profound arc toward enlightenment, in doing so, gesturing toward allegory. In any respect though, this fantasy would certainly qualify under the definition for the term fable.

[Drew Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the animated film adaptation of this SO much when I was young, and until recently I didn't even realize it was based on a book. I looked it up and discovered it was rather short (not entirely unexpected), and of course had to read it. A sort of delightfully odd mix between The Incredible Journey and Toy Story, this is a book about five intrepid minor appliances who, finding themselves abandoned in their beloved master's summer cottage, decide to brave the dangerous wilderness and journey to the city to find him and discover why they were left behind. The Hoover vacuum, Tensor lamp, electric blanket, AM radio/clock and of course the toaster as the de facto leader are an interesting bundle of traveling companions, and the concept itself is pretty ingenious (or kind of ridiculous, depending on your point of view, I guess). The characters themselves are somewhat one-dimensional, though I guess this is to be expected, as they're appliances and live basically to perform one unique function, respectively. Still, their personalities show pretty well, even if the writing for each is pretty similar.

There's a vague sense of datedness about this book, but that doesn't really detract or distract from the experience. For the first three-fourths or so, this book follows the plot presented in the film very closely, the script only deviating a little regarding some parts of the ending, and of course adding a few more steps to the journey, and a much more dramatic climax. The characters all had a little something to learn, and while they each had to discover that there's a little more to life than their simple existence in their own way, the themes are subtle and well-handled. They had to work together and each found ways to use their individual skills, and there was a nice sense of necessary and expected camaraderie among them. When something had to be done, they just worked together and did it, even though some of the party might have grumbled a little along the way. I thought it was kind of brilliant how they were bound by certain laws, requiring them to freeze when in the presence of humans (and when and why they decided they just HAD to break these laws), and how the concept of gender was totally lost on them, as they were most clearly "its" (which resulted in a very offended squirrel, unable to understand why they didn't get his gender-based joke).

It was a short and amusing read, and really took me back twenty years or so to the time I would pore over the TV listings to see if the movie was coming back on anytime soon. I didn't rate it higher because I think as a story, it's a little oversimplistic for my liking, which the movie improved on a little, but in the scope of the book it works too. They're just appliances, after all. This is an optimistic little journey that I'll probably take again someday.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to give this book two and a half stars, but struggled between compromising at two stars or three. I settled on the former option, as one can see.

I love this story in all its forms, and give a real nod of respect to Thomas M. Disch for the unique creativity that led to the writing of this small novel. The reading level is substantially above what one who has seen the hit movie might expect, but the plot moves along very well and the tidbits of real wisdom to be found about living past one's prime and being helplessly outmoded make this a story worth reading for anyone, I think, in conjunction with the movie or apart from it. The end is different from that of the film but is quiet, reasonable, and still comforting. The Brave Little Toaster is a nice read, and quite brief, and I like it.

"But it is a rare human being who will be swayed by considerations of the heart in his dealings with appliances..."

—The Brave Little Toaster, P. 44

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's easy to find the movie version, but the book is somewhat harder to track down. Its major appeal is its appealingly spunky main characters and -- which I imagine is harder to translate to screen -- its whimsical tone.

The world here anticipates Toy Story: appliances have a rich life of their own, but live to serve their master. Whenever humans appear, they become inert and lose any self-determination. Honestly, I was never 100% comfortable wit this message of joyful servitude, but given the plot of the book is that master is missing, you don't have much opportunity to notice.

The tone is best captured by the opening poem: how you find it -- cute or cloying or dumb -- is how you'll find the book. 'Lives a man with soul so dead/ He's never to his toaster said/.../ Such words of friendship and advice/ As "How are things with you tonight?"/ Or "Not too dark but not too light."'

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know that The Brave Little Toaster was a book before being adapted into the movie I remember from my childhood. And I have to say, the book is kind of awesome. It's written with a formalized elegance that you might expect from older stories, but the tone is absolutely perfect. It's a quiet story and it's easy to love these intrepid little appliances.

Sadly I had to weed this book from the library's collection due to its age (and the book does show its age in terms of the technology used) and low circulation, but it has since found a cozy little place on my bookshelf at home.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember enjoying this movie as a kid but never knew it was a book first. It's really a beautiful little story. So simple but very well crafted. There are puns but they are subtle and thoughtful, not groan-inducing at all. I can't possibly imagine what might happen in the sequel based on the title but this was so well written I will gladly take a look.

[Jawhara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute adventure. I got curious after having watched the movie as a child and found out that it was a book/short story. I'm pretty sure this book is not in print anymore, so the chances of your reading it may be very small. However, if you get a chance to read it, do. It's imaginative and quite the adventure. I will not ruin anything for you, you simply must read it. Enjoy!

[Jaksen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read it, loved it. Yet another book designed for adults but taken over, somewhat, by children. It's a quick, but elegant read. Perfect for any 'grown-up' who made the salt and pepper shakers talk at the supper table while Mom looked on with exasperation and Dad smiled his approval.

:D

[Mary Rude · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a charming book! I'd seen the movie as a kid, but the book actually has a lot more whimsy, and none of the really scary parts that are in the movie. A great lesson for kids about not throwing things away that can still be used.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to separate the book from the movie - having seen the movie so many times. You rather miss some things that you are used to in the movie. The ending is different, but not disappointing.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sharp, tons of heart, an interesting read.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whimsical tale of nostalgia, memory, love, need and terror. Every character is relatable, every trial invokes sympathy. A fantastic tale of teamwork and friendship.

[Johnny Clyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The movie is surprisingly a lot darker and deeper in its character structures. A fun little read. Especially fond of the amorous daisy.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adventure in survival occurs when five appliances trek through the wilderness in an attempt to reach their owner in the city.

[Tristan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised I haven't reviewed this before, since I have have read this before more than once and it's terribly funny. Disch's tale of a plucky set of appliances who have been left in their owner's somewhat recently abandoned mountain cabin and their quest to become useful again is a riotous read, tongue in cheek (as it addresses the readers as appliances and makes amusing comments about how, as everyone knows, flowers will say anything if it makes their poems' forms work out).

It's a sweet book; the appliances are lovable and just want to be appreciated as the sturdy and reliable tools they are. It's readable and fast-paced and (unsurprisingly) pretty short. I don't have a lot of detailed thoughts; it's a regular re-read for me because each new time gives me a chance to revel in some new little bit of humor--this time it was the sheer beautiful awkwardness of the summer-cottage toaster meeting the newer, shinier, apartment toaster and the scene where the apartment appliances have to tell their compatriots about the marriage and the new habit of vacationing by the sea, where his wife has no allergies, and the avoidance of it by watching television (as if the TV were less involved in the awkward feelings among the appliances than everything else). Great fun, especially for the young-at-heart.

[Ásta Ólafs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been wanting to read this book for the longest time. Basically ever since I realized that the animated movie musical was based on a book!
I've had it on my Amazon wishlist for many years but never pulled the trigger (do you know how expensive it is to ship ANYTHING from there to Iceland?). However, I've recently really gotten into reading eBooks on my Kindle and realized that I could finally easily access this story. A few minutes later I was reading The Brave Little Toaster and having the best nostalgic time.

Reading the book I was amazed at how close the movie kept to its source. The mood was so wonderfully reminiscent of the feelings I had when watching the movie. I know that I am not alone in absolutely adoring the cartoon as well as being immensely traumatized by it. It had a huge influence on me as a child, as it was my favourite movie and I watched it regularly. I think I was mainly fascinated with it because of the adult themes and complex emotions it made me feel. Which makes sense because I was a dramatic child and if a song made me cry then it instantly became my new favourite song of all time.

All that to say, I love this story and I loved reading this book. I teared up during the final pages and I definitely want a physical copy of this book on my shelf as it will always be special to me.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw that this was a children's book by science fiction author Disch and was intrigued, but didn't pick it up until I had kids. Five appliances go in search of the master. Pretty simple stuff, good for kids, for adults, kinda stupid, but the kids liked it so I guess it hit the intended market.