Everyone in Katie Woo's class has lost a tooth, except her! She tries everything she can think of to make her wiggly tooth fall out, but nothing works. Will she ever lose her tricky tooth?
Fran Manushkin is the author of more than fifty books for children, including the Katie Woo series; Big Girl Panties, illustrated by Valeria Petrone; Big Sisters Are the Best, illustrated by Kirsten Richards; The Tushy Book, illustrated by Tracy Dockray; and Baby, Come Out!, illustrated by Ronald Himler and translated into eight languages. She lives in New York City.
The Tricky Tooth is a 2011 title in the Katie Woo series by Fran Manushkin. The series is very loosely based on the author's great-niece, also named Katie Woo, but according to the author, the real Katie Woo "never gets in half the trouble of the Katie Woo in the books."
In this episode, Katie, a first-grader, has a loose tooth, and since she is the only student in her class who hasn't lost one yet, she is desperate for it to come out. The tooth just isn't ready yet, though - neither popcorn nor aggressive tooth-brushing nor bumping a ball with her head encourages it to come out. Finally, though, after being patient for a few days, a friend's dog nuzzles Katie's cheek, and out the tooth comes! Losing teeth is tricky, but it all works out for the best in the end.
This series never fails to catch my eye on the shelves in the bookstore or library. They are really attractive books, with hard covers that are just the right size and shape for the hands of a new reader. Katie's name is printed on the cover and title page in big, bold, patterned letters, and each very short chapter is illustrated with full-color drawings that create context for the reader. This particular story doesn't cover very much new ground, but like the other Katie Woo books, it is perfect for new readers just learning to read books with chapters. Losing teeth is an important part of the first grade experience, which makes the book easily relatable for boys and girls, and makes the book extremely relevant to the readers' day to day lives. This series is also one of the few at this level that includes a diverse, multi-cultural cast of characters. Tammie Lyon's illustrations really highlight that diversity and enable kids from all different backgrounds to see themselves in the book.
I recommend Katie Woo all the time to families who are just discovering the easy reader genre. They make a wonderful introduction into the world of books for beginning readers, and they satisfy parents looking for books without toilet humor, scary creatures, or fantasy elements. Though I don't think it necessarily stands out, this book is representative of the things I like about the series as a whole. Recommended to first graders, especially those with a tricky loose tooth!
Who is Katie Woo? Katie is a little girl who is Asian-American but is also an integral part of the wide American culture. She spends her time with her friends and family, at home and at school, and her problems are the small problems of children everywhere: she deals with finding her place among her friends and the loss of a beloved pet and waiting and waiting for her tooth to fall out and going on a first camping trip. All the stories are just at the right reading level for children ready to try their first chapter books.
My grade 1 students loved this book as they could relate to Katie's anxiety over losing her first tooth. They all wanted to tell me their tooth stories and show me their gaps.
Everyone in Katie Woo's class has lost a tooth, except her! She tries everything she can think of to make her wiggly tooth fall out, but nothing works. Will she ever lose her tricky tooth?
She went to her friends house and they ate popcorn. Her friends front tooth came up. But her tooth didn't. Then she was playing with her friends dog, toto, from the wizard of oz and he scratched her and her tooth fell out.