THROW YOUR TOOTH ON THE ROOF

The demands on the tooth fairy are almost as strenuous as those on Santa, but she has some help, because, as Beeler tells it, the customs about teeth vary around the world. In Spain, a mouse spirits molars away, while in Korea the tooth gets tossed up on the roof. An author’s note explains how Beeler canvased friends and strangers for their tooth traditions, many of which are similar; there’s no attempt to root out the anthropological origins of any of the customs, which makes this a better browsing book than a resource for reports. Karas’s illustrations, including his map, are deliberately lighthearted and make people the world over look uniformly friendly. A charming debut. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)