Dear Tooth Fairy »

Alan Durant is the author of more than forty children’s books. He says, "When I was doing some work with children one time, I met a girl named Lily who had a whole collection of beautifully illustrated letters from the Tooth Fairy. My imagination immediately got to work, thinking about a possible exchange between a girl and the Tooth Fairy and where it might lead. So DEAR TOOTH FAIRY was born." Alan Durant has three young children and lives in Surrey, England.

Vanessa Cabban has written and illustrated several books for children and is also the illustrator of DOWN IN THE WOODS AT SLEEPYTIME by Carole Lexa Schaefer. Of DEAR TOOTH FAIRY, she says, "Everything was tiny and magical in this story. It was irresistible. I wanted to be Holly." Vanessa Cabban lives in Northumberland, England.

An inquisitive little girl gives the Tooth Fairy a run for her money-and exchanges several removable messages-in this sweet, humorous story.

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Thank you for coming last night. . . . I have a few questions. Why do you want my tooth?

Holly’s tooth has fallen out, but she’s not sure she wants to give it to the Tooth Fairy just yet. She has a few questions to ask first, about how fairies operate and where her tooth will end up. Luckily, the obliging Tooth Fairy responds- five times! Readers will be tickled to reach inside real envelopes and find Holly’s missives from the Tooth Fairy, including removable letters, a poster, a riddle-teller, and—finally—a shiny fairy coin.

Publishers Weekly

Unwilling to relinquish the tooth she has just shed, Holly stalls the Tooth Fairy by engaging the sprite in an extended correspondence, the focal point of Durant's (Big Bad Bunny) and Cabban's (Down in the Woods at Sleepytime) unjacketed novelty book. The girl's letters ("Why do you want my tooth? How did you know it had come out?") garner five responses from "2 Tooth House Lane, Fairyland," each of which is contained in a small envelope glued onto the relevant spread. Along with gently urging Holly to give up the goods, the Tooth Fairy's letters also include a gift/bribe: a poster delineating the inhabitants of fairyland, an elaborately folded fairy "riddle-teller" ("How do you make a fairy airy? Take away her F!"). Holly is finally cajoled into putting her tooth under her pillow, and earns a fifth envelope that holds a thank you note, a fairy coin (the currency of the realm is plastic) and, as befits a serious enterprise, a receipt. Drawn to the novelty of the diminutive envelopes and their contents, readers will probably skip right over the obvious main narrative ("Holly read the letter and studied her poster. She liked it very much"). But Cabban's rose-hued watercolors should command their attention. Alternating between scenes of fairy and human domestic life, these girly pictures exude an airy grace while conveying the determination of a young lady who wants to make the most of her fleeting contact with the fairy world. Ages 4-7. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.