2012 Junior Library Guild Selection

THE TOOTH MOUSE

Illustrated by Janice Nadeau
Kids Can Press
ISBN: 978-1554535651

In many countries around the world, there is no such thing as the Tooth Fairy. Instead, there is the Tooth Mouse! This modern fable, set in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, tells how an aging French Tooth Mouse names her successor. Can little Sophie meet the three contest challenges? Can she prove she is the right mouse for the job of La Petite Souris? Illustrated in gorgeous watercolors, the book includes information about tooth traditions around the globe.

AWARDS and BEST OF THE YEAR LISTS

  • Named a 2013 Best Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education
    and the Cooperative Children's Book Center

  • Gold Medal, ReadBoston— Best Read-Aloud Book of the Year 2013

Praise for THE TOOTH MOUSE

The New York Times

"....these mice could even teach the tooth fairy a thing or two."
To read the entire review, click here.


★ Booklist (Starred Review)

"How charming is this? ...such a unique ending that listeners and their parents will smile with the cleverness of it all. Nadeau's art is clever as well. Using delicate ink lines and soft-shaded watercolors, she offers pictures that seem truly set in a world of mice. There is a lightness and sweetness to the art that makes every full-page picture and vignette a tasty yet smart confection. Those who've believed in the Tooth Fairy will happily make a place for the Tooth Mouse."


Kirkus Reviews

"Beautifully executed…. Hood masterfully spins her story with lush language sprinkled with some French (which further impresses when read aloud). … Readers will pore over the exquisitely drawn details on each page.... With a nod to classic titles of years past, this provides a fresh, modern take on an itty-bitty heroine's achievement of her seemingly impossible goal."


Publishers Weekly

"Like Katharine Holabird’s Angelina Ballerina, this effervescent story from Hood (the Pup and Hound series) stars a dainty, ballet-loving mouse, but Sophie’s life is a little edgier than Angelina’s. ... Sophie’s ballet skills come in handy, but her courage and intelligence win the day. Hood’s confiding tone and French asides are part of the book’s charm, while Nadeau’s (Cinnamon Baby) ink-and-watercolor paintings, with their delicate tracery and moody pink and gray washes, temper the story’s frilliness with just a hint of dark humor."


School Library Journal

A "delightful story with beaucoup nods to the French language. ... As these words are used in context and very often translated as part of the narrative, children should have no problem understanding them. Little girls especially will appreciate Sophie, a plucky, sure, and determined little mouse whose solution to the final task is a lovely example of youthful ingenuity." —Alison Donnelly, Collinsville Memorial Public Library, IL


CBCC Choices 2013

"A delightful original story is rooted in the French tradition of the Tooth Mouse.... Susan Hood's fresh tale is sprinkled with French words and phrases and sparkles with charm, as do Janice Nadeau's delicate pencil and watercolor illustrations."


The Tooth Mouse Activities