Dann's Reviews > Turmoil in the Toybox

Alarmist pseudo-science, Turmoil In the Toybox examines the messages being taught to children through the toys that they play with. Author Phil Phillips looks at popular toys such as He-Man, Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, GI Joe, Transformers, and Carebears to see what types of play and world view they are encouraging and what effects they have on children. A lot of his concerns are legitimate and sensible; such as taking imaginative play too far and the levels of violence children are exposed to in cartoons. However, he doesn’t seem to see a distinction between fantasy games and occult worship, and ends up labeling any toy that doesn’t acknowledge Jesus (which is all of them) as occultist. Phillips also underestimated children’s ability to separate imagination and the real world. And the writing is rather weak, particularly in how he integrates bible verses, letters, and other resources, which can be a little confusing in how they’re worded and structured. Turmoil In the Toybox is far from practical and seems to miss the point of playing with modern toys that allow children to re-enact and continue the adventures of the movie and TV characters that they love.