An entertaining tale despite Decay Valley’s guilt trip.
In this second children’s chapter book in a series, a tooth fairy gets help from friends after she’s banished to Decay Valley for collecting an inadequately brushed tooth.
Batina is a “Tooth Collector” with a problem: Her next assignment, a boy named Scooter Brown, hasn’t been brushing well, and a tooth fairy’s chief responsibility is to motivate kids to practice good dental hygiene. If the tooth that she collects doesn’t pass inspection, she’ll be sent to Decay Valley until Scooter loses another, well-brushed tooth. (Well-brushed teeth, it turns out, are the source of fairy dust, which allows fairies to fly.) Meanwhile, fairy Jolene passes her tooth-collector exams with a respectable B-plus after having failed them the previous year. However, she still likes to cut corners, and before Batina can stop her, she disguises Scooter’s decayed tooth with white paint, hoping it’ll pass muster. Of course, the ruse doesn’t work. Before Batina reports to Decay Valley, she writes an encouraging note to Scooter, leaves it in her room, and asks her friends to deliver it. However, Jolene is too impatient to look for Batina’s note, so she tries to help by forging a new one. After the tooth-fairy authorities discover Jolene’s latest trick, they remind her of the fairy rules, which include strict honesty. After several days, Scooter loses another tooth; Jolene, regretting her previous behavior, volunteers to collect it, hoping for the best. Ditto (The Tooth Collector Fairies: Batina’s Best First Day, 2016) again uses the issue of dental hygiene, important in itself, to teach larger lessons about honesty, fairness, and cooperation. Jolene, the previous book’s most intriguing character, again steals the show here, and Ditto makes the tooth-fairy community seem like fun. However, it’s illogical that fairies should suffer banishment for children’s poor teeth, particularly when they have no chance to encourage them toward proper hygiene beforehand. Also, making young readers feel responsible for fairies’ well-being may add an extra layer of guilt to the dental-hygiene process. Illustrator Utomo’s (Mayanito’s New Friends, 2017, etc.) colorful images depict a diverse group of fairies and capture their actions and expressions well.
An entertaining tale despite Decay Valley’s guilt trip.Pub Date: March 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9967559-6-2
Page Count: 76
Publisher: Ditto Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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