Clarabella's Teeth

by An Vrombaut

Rosie, Max, Liam, and Zoe are painting pictures, playing games, and having lunch, but Clarabella the crocodile can’t join them. She’s busy brushing her teeth—and it takes a long time because crocodiles have so many teeth! After she misses a whole day’s worth of activities, her friends surprise her with a giant crocodile-size toothbrush. Tomorrow Clarabella will be able to brush her teeth and have fun, too. Very young children will enjoy meeting the engaging animal friends who brush their teeth so cheerfully. Bright, bold, funny illustrations accompany this simple and spirited story, which highlights an important dental routine.

Genres: Picture Books, Storytime, Childrens, Animals, Humor, Friendship

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 25, 2003

Reviews

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarabella misses out on all the fun because it takes her so long to brush all of her crocodile teeth. Spoiler alert! Her friends find her a crocodile sized toothbrush.

[Kristen Dutkiewicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor Clarabella is always too busy brushing her teeth! She doesn't have time for anything else!

[Emily Carlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clarabella has lots and lots of crocodile teeth. How long will it take her to brush all of her teeth?!

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids in storytime thought it was hilarious.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book about a crocodile that takes forever brushing her teeth.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun storytime book!

[Alicia Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

For: animal lovers; readers looking for a playful book about the brushing teeth.

Possible red flags: feeling left out; distress/disappointment.

[Varin]

dental health storytime

[Therese Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be in every children’s dentist office. Will distract.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Posters made by college Health Science students advertised a special story time promising "dental hygiene" instruction. It seemed a perfect fit for the week following Halloween. "H" was the featured alphabet letter this week so our theme was "Holes". Dental cavities are holes in teeth so it all fit together. Their poster "After You Trick or Treat, Remember to Take Care of Your Teeth" caught our attention. Following the presentation each child was given a treat bag with a coloring page and a new toothbrush.

The children enjoyed making actions to the story--
s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g "It's time to wake up",
brushing teeth with rabbit, leopard, monkey, and zebra,
making crocodile jaws snap with our whole arms and clapping our hands,
and so forth.

Following the story the students pantomimed proper brushing and engaged the children with questions and answers.

[Deborah Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about friends who want to play but must brush their teeth first. It could be incorporated in science by talking about why they brush their teeth, and how crocodiles have lots of teeth. It also has a lot of word repitition, this will allow the students to count the number of times Clarabella brushes her teeth. You could also incorporate simple addition by counting the number of times she brushes per page then adding each number together. Each page has an action verb for every characters. So this would be a great way to talk about action verbs. Many of the words in the book are multi sylable words, that could be used to talk about counting sylables in words. The charicters want to play with Clarabella so they find a solution to Clarabella's brushing problems. This book is great for K - 2 grades.

[Mhm Storytelling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarabella has so many teeth to brush that she keeps missing fun activities with all of her other animal friends. She is stuck inside brushing until her friends surprise her with a gift....a giant crocodile toothbrush!

Themes/Topics: Oral hygiene, helping others, crocodile/alligator theme

Great Features: Fun pictures with several different animals

Red Flags: there may be a few animals that the children won't know

Opportunities for Interactions: You can have a discussion about how to brush teeth, why it is so important and how long they should brush for. You can also have them act out activities that the other animals are doing in the book.

[Amanda]

Poor Clarabella. While all of her friends are off playing games and having snacks, she's stuck at home brushing and brushing and brushing her alligator teeth. After she spends the entire day doing little more than that, her friends surprise her with a gift sure to make future teeth brushing a lot faster.

For some reason, alligators and their teeth seem to inspire quite a few dental-related stories. An Vrombaut's take on this theme is a winning one. The whimsical illustrations, coupled with Clarabella's humorous plight, are sure to leave young readers laughing (and it's fun for the adult reader, too). Recommended for older toddlers and preschoolers, and for storytimes about dental health.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children always can be entertained with more stories and songs on cleaning their teeth. In this story, Clarabella, a crocodile, has a long row of teeth, that keeps her behind all her friends when they brush their teeth. She is stuck brushing her teeth while her friends get to have lunchtime, tumble time, and before she knows it, its time to brush your teeth again for bed time! AAAh! Poor Clarabella! Check out this book to see how Clarabella might be able to brush her teeth in time and not miss out on all the fun!

[Renate]

Clarabella is an crocodile and she has to many teeth that she misses out on doing fun things with her friends because she is busy brushing her teeth, Children can relate to this book because they know they have to brush their teeth. The book has a nice ending where her friends come together to problem solve and give Clarabella a really big toothbrush!
This book helps with vocabulary and narrative skills if you have them describe what how Clarabella is feeling and how her friends help her.

[Lain · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an adorable tale! Clarabella is a young crocodile who misses snack, playtime, and fun because she has to spend so much time brushing her mouthful of teeth. Her friends rescue her from her dilemma, though. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers just learning about sharing, and playing with others.

[Christine Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite picture book about brushing teeth. Poor Clarabella has so many teeth that it takes her all day to brush. Her friends come to the rescue and surprise with a very useful present.


2019 Dental Health Storytime
I use this every year so it deserves to be upgraded from 4 stars to 5.

2023 Busy Bees Dental Health Week

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clarabella and her friends start their day by brushing their teeth, but as the day passes Clarabella the crocodile is still brushing her teeth. Clarabella misses out on all the fun, because it took her all day to brush her teeth. Her friends surprise her with a gift so that she will be able to join in the fun the next day.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter loves this book and it has wound up in our daily rotation. The illustrations are great and the story cute. It's a little short, but in the world of picture books, the author would have had to stretch out Clarabella's dental woes for 8 more pages.

[Amy Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoey loved this book, about a crocodile with so many teeth she spends all day brushing them, missing out on play time and snacks with her friends. At the end of the day, her friends give her a 'crocodile sized' toothbrush, problem solved. Cute story.

[Dedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Clarabella - everyone else is out having fun while she's stuck brushing and brushing and brushing all of her crocodile teeth. This book is adorable, and I have to admit I had a big ole crocodile smile on my face the whole time I read it.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

Clarabella's Teeth is a story about a crocodile who is stuck brushing her teeth while her friends are having fun. This is a good pick for a oral hygene/teeth storytime.

Decent for pre-k storytime.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bright illustrations accompany this simple, yet comical story about the trials of brushing one's teeth if you're a crocodile. Great read for a varied audience during a storytime when a dental hygienist visited. Recommended.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clarabella the crocodile spends her whole day brushing all her teeth while her friends are playing and enjoying the day but how can Clarabella get the job done faster? Maybe her friends have an idea?

[Shevonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute story about a poor crocodile with too many teeth. The kids adored the story and wanted me to repeat the story.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

teeth, good hygene, animals - crocodile, rabbit, monkey, zebra

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When looking for books about dental health, look no further! It's funny and cute and kids like it!

[MCPLD Youth Department · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful book that shows how friends can be so helpful. And it is great to use when talking about dental hygiene.

[Allison]

for a teeth/tooth fairy storytime

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect way to teach kids to brush their teeth and to be grateful that they don't have that many teeth.