The Toothless Tooth Fairy

These days its not as difficult to find books with multicultural characters.  To be sure, diversity in children’s literature still has a way to go but it’s much better than it used to be.  Take for example, The Toothless Tooth Fairy by Shanell Hicks.  Because many little girls dream of being princesses and fairies being beautiful, how appropriate is it to have all of those things on one book geared toward them?

Very appropriate.

That’s what makes this title appealing.  And let’s add another bonus: in an age of Bad Girls and Mean Girls and a fascination with being pretty and mean (hello Disney Channel?) depicting a protagonist who is pretty AND nice, is refreshing.

Bella had it all. The hair, the dress, and the smile. One day, her most important asset was missing…her tooth! Will Bella find the perfect tooth in time for the contest? Will Zelda, the meanest of the fairies, destroy Bella’s chances of winning the crown? Take a journey onto Cloud Nine as Bella searches for a new tooth only to discover the tooth…I mean truth…behind her true beauty.

You might remember a post I did recently about morality tales. Because kids’ brains are hardwired for concrete examples, morality tales are an excellent way to teach our littlest readers very basic lessons. Here’s another lesson that must be instilled early: beauty is not just what’s on the outside.  Someone very close to me used to say “God don’t like ugly” which I shared with my own littles.  A person can be ugly on the inside and/or outside, as exemplified by Zelda. What kind of name is Zelda anyway? A GREAT ONE!

But I digress. Get this book for your little ones of all colors. They will delight in learning that “beauty is only skin deep” and that being part of the bad girls club is not where it’s at.

And I’m kinda digging the whole love triumphs over evil deal, too. Put on your fairy wings and read this together.