The Brave Little Toaster (novel)
A bedtime story for small appliances seeking their master.
The Brave Little Toaster is a 1980 novella by American writer Thomas M. Disch, intended as a children's story or, in the author's words, a 'bedtime story for small appliances'. It follows five household appliances—a tensor lamp stand, an electric blanket, an AM radio alarm clock, a vacuum cleaner, and a toaster—on a quest to find their original owner, called the Master. The novella was nominated for both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novella and won a Locus Award, Seiun Award, and British SF Association Award.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Thomas M. Disch
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Published
- August 15, 1980
Facts from the source article.
Plot summary
The story opens with five household appliances left in a cottage, each given a distinct personality: the vacuum cleaner is steady and dependable, the AM radio alarm clock is plastic, the electric blanket is cheerful, the tensor lamp stand is somewhat neurotic about its origins, and the Sunbeam toaster is bright. The cottage sits at the northern edge of a vast forest, and the appliances are accustomed to seasonal use, with other appliances returning to the city with the master each Labor Day. After two years, five months, and thirteen days without the master, they suspect they have been abandoned. The toaster recounts a tale of an abandoned dog that found its master hundreds of miles away, inspiring the appliances to do the same. They solve their transportation needs by fitting an old metal office chair with casters and rigging it with an automotive battery to power the vacuum cleaner, which tows the others. They set out through the woods, as they must remain still whenever observed by humans.
Development
The story first appeared as a novella in the August 1980 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, written in the style of a children's fable. It was one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy stories of the early 1980s. Disch said he was initially unable to publish it as a children's book because publishers considered talking appliances too far-fetched, even after he sold the film rights to Disney. Doubleday eventually published it as part of a five-book contract.
Film adaptations and sequels
A friend introduced John Lasseter to the novella, leading him to persuade Tom Wilhite to secure the film rights for Disney in the early 1980s. In 1983, Lasseter presented a 30-second demo to Disney executives that combined traditional hand-drawn animation with computer-generated backgrounds. The executives rejected it, citing negligible savings in cost and time compared to conventional methods, and Lasseter was dismissed from the company just ten minutes after the meeting. He later noted that his enthusiasm had led him to bypass his direct supervisors, creating friction. An internal Disney newsletter from June 1983 highlighted Lasseter and Glen Keane’s work on test scenes from Where the Wild Things Are, intended as a trial for the proposed Brave Little Toaster film. The novel was eventually adapted into a traditionally animated feature in 1987 by Thomas M. Disch and Joe Ranft, produced by Hyperion Pictures, which Wilhite founded. While the film largely follows the book’s plot, its ending diverges: the appliances give themselves to an elderly ballerina in the novella, but in the movie they rejoin their owner, named Rob. Disch later wrote a sequel, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, where the toaster and friends journey to Mars to thwart an invasion by hostile appliances; this was also turned into a film. A third movie, The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue, takes place between the two books but is not adapted from a written work.
Characters
The Toaster is a gallant Sunbeam pop-up two-slice toaster. The Lamp is a tensor gooseneck desktop lamp stand that shines a bright light. The Electric Blanket is a shy but cheerful yellow electric blanket with a childlike manner. The AM Radio Alarm Clock is an off-white plastic vacuum-tube-based prototype amplitude modulation radiotelegraphic alarm clock. The Old Vacuum Cleaner is a big, strong hoover upright vacuum cleaner. The Daisy can only speak in verse and mistakes her reflection in the toaster for a male counterpart, falling in love. Harold and Marjorie are a pair of squirrels who help the blanket out of a tree after a storm; they cannot comprehend appliances or the fact they have no gender. The Pirate finds the appliances and throws them into a city dump, but the toaster plans an escape by having them pretend to be a ghost. The Master is the former owner, whom the appliances revere; they learn he has a mistress and that the cottage will be sold. The Ballerina trades the appliances on a radio show for her kittens.
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