Tooth Fairy in Training
from Michelle Robinson
with pictures from Briony May Smith
40 pages
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781406377569
published: 06 Jun 2019
Price: £11.99
A truly adventurous tooth fairy story with lots of animal contemporaries
A wonderful bedtime story
for children 2.5 years +
There are many tooth fairy stories, but this one is a little different. That the tooth fairy comes to the human children we know, but that she also comes to the animals, that is certainly new for many.
What is more dangerous to collect the tooth of a crocodile or that of a human child?
The author Michelle Robinson provides the answer in her enchanting story, which, however, only becomes a special book through the grandiose, imaginative, realistic illustrations by Briony May Smith. The illustrator has a very charming illustration style, which the children can immediately recognize and name similarities to other books she illustrates.
Funny, realistic and at the same time mysterious often with a large portion of magic, that's what makes her pictures and also this story, in which the little fairy Tilda also wants to become a tooth fairy. Good that her sister Maja is a good teacher.
She explains to her exactly what to look for when she exchanges tooth for coin. Then it gets serious. Together they fly to a large lake. There lives the hippo baby, which has a wobbly tooth. Such a hippopotamus mouth looks quite dangerous. Will Tilda succeed in getting the milk tooth?
But a hippopotamus is still nothing to go a crocodile and if you then also have to narwhal, and shark dive, this is really a great adventure. Whether under water or in the jungle, whether with crocodile, seal or snake, Tilda does her job really well.
Under the loving guidance and protection of Maja, Tilda grows beyond herself. At the end, however, she also has to go to a little girl to exchange the wobbly tooth for a coin. Anyone who thinks that is very easy will be surprised. For Tilda, this seemingly simple task becomes a special challenge, in which she even has to wave her wand.
The story that little Tilda tells from a first-person perspective makes children a lot of friends. The story thrives on the fantastic illustrations. On each double page there is an incredible amount to discover and often you realize only at the second, third or fourth glance what there is to discover. The children here were particularly impressed by the picture of the crocodiles.
The second view is usually no longer so focused, the whole picture of the double side perceives and one also looks at Maja in the middle of a large crocodile tail next to small crocodiles. But there are so many more crocodiles than the eye perceives at first or second glance. It's just fantastic how the illustrator works here with light and shadow with light and dark. It's an image full of magic that you like to dive deeper into and notice in disbelief that you still haven't discovered everything.
Adventure and reading pleasure is the program here.
