The Tooth Fairy

by Peter Collington

In the wordless storyboard format and soft pastel drawings that have become his trademark, Peter Collington offers an enchanting solution to the age-old mystery of what the tooth fairy does with all those teeth!  He follows an industrious tooth fairy on an arduous night's work of creating a perfect silver coin and exchanging it for a precious baby tooth.  Back in her cozy parlor, she lovingly transforms her prize into a new ivory key for her broken piano, then sits down to play a tune.  The trade edition includes a make-it-yourself tooth box for commemorating a milestone of every childhood--losing the first baby tooth.  

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Fantasy

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This really is a lovely book, the perfect gift for a child losing a tooth! This beautifully illustrated picture book with no text shows the process of the local tooth fairy coming to collect a little girls tooth. I really loved the inventiveness of the processes the tooth fairy went through in her job. My children would always want to know what the fairies did with their teeth, I would explain they were used with little sticks as garden spades or hollowed out to use to drink from, molars as little stools but this fairy has a wonderful use for her collected teeth!

Highly recommended and read on open library.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

British picture-book artist Peter Collington presents a beautifully-realized wordless tale in The Tooth Fairy. The artwork depicts a young girl losing her tooth and, with the help of her mother, placing it carefully under her pillow. The tooth fairy living in a nearby tree, in the meantime, carefully crafts the coin she will exchange for the girl's tooth. In a surprise ending, the fairy has a particular use for the tooth...

The second wordless picture-book I have read from Collington, following upon his lovely On Christmas Eve , The Tooth Fairy offer a creative interpretation and enhancement of the classic story of the fairy that exchanges a coin for children's baby teeth. I particularly enjoyed the underground scenes in which the fairy labors to create the coin, as they were wholly unexpected. I also liked the use to which the fairy put the tooth. The artwork was just beautiful here, and more than enough to carry the story. I will definitely be seeking out more of Collington's work, and thank my friend Hilary for making me aware of this one.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collington's elegantly detailed, warm hued illustrations expands on what we already know about tooth fairies and offers some insight into their work. The book begins with a little girl losing a tooth and placing in a tooth-box under her pillow before going to bed. Not to far from her house, a tooth fairy leaves her home in the trees to travel down into the ground where she must construct her coin. After the coin is ready, the fairy must travel to the house of the sleeping girl and wiggle under the pillow to place the coin in the box. The tooth fairy then returns home where she begins to fix keys on her piano.

What I must admire about this book is that even though the tooth fairy is a magical creature, she still engages in hard work. It is nice to see a strong female character like this to serve as a role model to little girls and to challenge stereotypical thinking held by all.

Nice book for bedtime and kiddos with a loose tooth.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think wordless picture book, this one immediately comes to mind. The Tooth Fairy was the first wordless book I ever read; I found it in my elementary school's library. Now in my personal library, this book is enchanting, transporting the 'reader' into the world of a fairy. The illustrations are quite average in my opinion, however, the story they tell is creative, innovative, and intriguing. Despite having no words, one wants to turn the page to see what comes next. The reader follows a tooth fairy, getting a close work at all her hard work after a child loses his or her tooth. She is followed to her silver mine, watching the way she casts a coin, then, how she trades the coin for a tooth, and finally her tree house and use of the teeth, in this case to make a final piano key. This book would be difficult for a read aloud due to the small and intricate details within the illustrations. If a classroom has a projector and screen, the book could be shared this way, however, because a reader forms the story within his or her head without text, it may take different amounts of time for each student to view a page. I think this book would be best read individually and between Kindergarten and third grade. This book would be a great way to practice visual literacy and story/plot comprehension, especially with children who struggle to read. In a classroom, students could write their own texts for the illustrations. I recommend this book for classroom libraries and independent reading time. I know it will go into my classroom!

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and lovely rendering of imagining how and why the tooth fairy collects teeth.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated.

[Savannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first picked up this book because it looked interesting, and then it intrigued me even more when I saw the beautiful illustrations and that it had no words. The story was about a girl who loses a tooth, so she puts it under her pillow and falls asleep. In the night, the tooth fairy wakes up, goes down under ground to a mine and makes a coin out of rock that she picks, and then goes and leaves the coin in place of the tooth under the little girl's pillow. The tooth fairy then takes the tooth home and makes it into her missing piano key and proceeds to play the piano. I really liked this book because any age can enjoy it, even me as an adult. I loved the illustrations and how easy it was to follow along the story without even having any words to accompany it. When younger children read this book, it would really help develop their imagination, which is wonderful.

[Raj Bowers-Racine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Human children = sustainable source of fairy piano ivory

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wordless picture book tells a unique story about how the tooth fairy operates. She uses those teeth for a very musical purpose. Lovely watercolor pictures.


Used for "Let's Go to the Dentist" storytime-January, 2010.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. Really made the Tooth Fairy seem magical!

[Debby Baumgartner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wordless book that helps a child understand about the tooth fairy and what happens with the teeth she takes.

[Cmfzebra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite part is when the tooth fairy gives the money.

[Jorgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very original idea as to what Tooth fairies do with teeth,and how they get their money.

[Michelle Farella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated wordless picture book