LULU AND THE MISSING TOOTH FAIRY
by S.E. Richey ; illustrated by Jhon Ortiz
A lost, inexperienced tooth fairy keeps a 5-year-old child waiting for her money in this debut picture book.
Lulu, a bespectacled White girl about to lose her first tooth, plans to spend her reward on a pony. At the same time, Trixie looks forward to her first assignment as a tooth fairy. When Lulu’s tooth pops out (with the help of a slammed door and string), Trixie plugs her assignment into her Fairy Positioning System and heads out. But instead of going to San Juan Island, Washington, she arrives in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, she meets Ratoncito, who collects the teeth of kids in Puerto Rico, and realizes she has to try again. After another false start, Trixie finally arrives, and Lulu uses her tooth fairy money to get a playmate—a hobby horse. The parallel stories of Lulu and Trixie only intersect in the one moment where both are in the same room in a sweet two-page spread. Ortiz’s digital cartoon illustrations give the impression of watercolors, with soft edges and invisible line work, presenting lush environments for Trixie’s travels. Richey’s accessible text features several vocabulary words that may challenge emergent readers (cavities, drenched). Some design choices add an extra oomph to action words like looped. The messages that a fairy should never give up and that different places have their own distinctive tooth traditions come through beautifully.
A clever, humorous, and joyful tooth story.