A humorous tale that pleasantly encourages good dental habits.
A children’s picture book with rhyming verse that explains how brushing and flossing help the Tooth Fairy’s mission.
Kids around the country are expecting a visit from the Tooth Fairy, but they wake up to find no gifts beneath their pillows. Where could she have gone? No one seems to know; competing theories assert that she simply forgot to come, or ran out of money, or went on vacation. But the Tooth Fairy explains the reason for her absence in a letter asking kids to “Please try to remember / I’m only one fairy” and that “When teeth are not clean / they are harder to carry,” because plaque, food, and “sugar bugs” make them heavy. In response, the children vow to brush and floss regularly. In her second dental-oriented picture book, hygienist Grider links healthy habits to rewards in a kid-friendly, nonscolding way. The Tooth Fairy’s rationale for good dental care makes enough sense to make the lesson stick, and it’s helped by enjoyably skillful rhyme and meter. An accompanying activity section includes a word search, a missing-tooth diagram, and a chart to track brushing and flossing. The charming acrylic-paint illustrations by Morrison depict adorable kids of various skin colors and a pale-skinned fairy with blue-white hair.
A humorous tale that pleasantly encourages good dental habits.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Red Bow Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the...
Krall’s latest is a disgusting, tongue-in-cheek lesson in contagiousness.
Simon loves school so much that even a cold (with its attendant snotty nose) won’t keep him home. He kisses his family and boards the bus, proceeding to vomit out the window on the way: “He…had fun the whole way,” the text understates. The merest contact or proximity leads others to suddenly, and unrealistically, sport Simon’s symptoms. The week includes show-and-tell, a zoo field trip, a game of kickball and a child-free bus on Friday afternoon, all the children having finally succumbed to his illness. The three germs that have been following him around all week finally introduce themselves and high-five him for being such a “germ hero.” Horrified, Simon does his best to stop their spread, washing his hands, covering his mouth, resting and hydrating, though the same cannot be said for one classmate on Monday morning. Krall’s illustrations work in the ick factor, his Photoshopped characters sporting oozing and dripping poison-green noses as each comes into contact with Simon. Careful observers may spot the colorful germs before they introduce themselves, but even those who don’t will want to go back and try to find all their appearances.
Though the science is not particularly solid, the message is an important one, and with the level of gross in the illustrations, it is sure to get through to young audiences. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9097-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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