THE FLIM-FLAM FAIRIES

Everybody’s heard of the Tooth Fairy, right? Put your tooth under your pillow, and she will leave a small gift in exchange. “How sickening!” complains the Belly Button Lint Fairy, a big-nosed conical fellow with a hairy gut, who begins to describe his own deal, when he is interrupted by the Earwax Fairy. The Dirty Underwear Fairy, the Clipped Toenail Fairy, the Snot Fairy and so on follow, in a parade of grossness clearly aimed at the pre–Captain Underpants market. With an illustration-and-design style that owes so much to Lane Smith-Molly Leach collaborations that more than one kid will think it’s a new offering from that team, Slack’s digital collages revel in the revolting possibilities provided by the text. It’s a one-joke pony, though, and nothing much happens: The Tooth Fairy attempts to expose the others as Flim-Flam Fairies, but the emergence of the Poop Fairy at the end casts her protestations into doubt. Even if kids last through it once, they’re not likely to clamor for repeated readings—for which their grown-ups will be eternally grateful. (Picture book. 5-8)