GABRIEL'S TOOTH FAIRY TALE

In Leya and Saylor’s illustrated children’s book, a young tinkerer helps out the Tooth Fairy.

As a boy named Gabriel gets ready for bed, he counts the stars. While falling asleep, he likes to think about traveling to outer space and working in his makerspace—a workspace where he builds rockets. Building and tinkering is what Gabriel enjoys most in the world, and his teacher, Ms. Birnbry, encourages him to use his “unique mind”to explore new corners of the galaxy. When he loses a baby tooth, his mom reminds him to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Later, Gabriel is suddenly woken by the sound of a sputtering engine: The Tooth Fairy has arrived, and her tiny jetpack is having engine trouble. Enchanted by Gabriel’s bedroom makerspace, she asks for his help with repairs. He’s easily able to fix the fairy’s jetpack and is rewarded for his kindness when the Tooth Fairy shrinks him down to her small size, and they fly to Tooth Fairy Land where there’s a parade every day and a massive orchard of coins in the center of town. Gabriel learns that lost teeth become the stars in Tooth Fairy Land’s sky. He returns home and later awakens to find a note from the Tooth Fairy and some gold coins. Leya and Saylor present a story that effectively encourages readers to follow their passions and help others; the protagonist’s mother and new Tooth Fairy friend both support his skills and dreams; the latter, in a letter, tells him, “May you always shine brightly and continue to dream big.” Sulima’s full-color illustrations are drawn very realistically, and the character images have an angelic quality, reminiscent of Precious Moments figurines. The backgrounds on each page are comprehensive and detailed and will pull readers into the story with their nighttime color palettes of muted greens and blues with occasional orange and purple.

A well-illustrated fantasy tale about following one’s dreams.