How to Trick the Tooth Fairy delivers the treats for kids 4-8

How to Trick the Tooth Fairy is a prime example of not judging a book by its cover. If you look at the cover it appears to be a book that is squarely, 100% aimed at girls. It has glitter on it, the tooth fairy and a mischievous looking young girl with a pink comforter and a heart shaped tooth box on the bed. Upon receiving the book I had its chance of winning over our 6YO at 20%. Don’t take me to Vegas because I lost that bet and out 6YO loved How to Trick the Tooth Fairy, laughed out loud and could relate to the antics that the lead character Kayleee puts on.

It’s not that I need our children’s books to have the scent of Steven Segal on them to be immediately appreciated by our youngest. He is in a phase where I’m not sure what type of books will appeal to him. Normally he’s driven by fart jokes, kid friendly aliens or talking animals. In my mind having him like a book about a prankster youth and an even more prankster tooth fairy wasn’t on the radar.

How to Trick the Tooth Fairy has shades of If you Give a Mouse a Cookie in that Kaylee tries to trick the Tooth Fairy. In her heart shaped tooth box she puts a toy frog instead of a baby tooth. This surprises the Tooth Fairy, but doesn’t upend her as she immediately makes it start to rain real frogs in Kaylee’s room.

It’s a case of prankster one-upsmanship as Kaylee continues to try to prank the Tooth Fairy, only to have her go further and bigger. Don’t mess with the Tooth Fairy is the bottom line. Note: in our house the only weakness of the Tooth Fairy is the noisy patch on the floor that squeaks when she walks across the floor instead of flying. If the Tooth Fairy could fix those noisy boards the next time she comes that would be appreciated.

The pranks in How to Trick the Tooth Fairy get bigger and bigger, which also correspond to the laughs that your younger readers will reward you with. Our 6YO is right in the sweet spot for this book by Erin Russell with illustrations by Jennifer Hansen Rolli. The words are sparse and don’t rhyme, which is great for emerging readers who might not want a rhyming book because it’s too ‘babyish’, according to them. The illustrations in the book are realistic, but with a hint of dreamy soft edges with each page being loaded from corner to corner with color.

At its core How to Trick the Tooth Fairy isn’t about losing teeth. It’s about friendship and fun. By the end of the book Kaylee and the Tooth Fairy are best buds, bonding over their love of pranks after they’ve called a truce. This is fun stuff that ages 4 through 8 will enjoy, regardless of if they’re a boy or girl.

Bonus: Author Erin Russell is appearing at the Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. This is a great festival that has hundreds of authors in dozens of different genres. If you love children’s books they have a large tract of speakers, presenters, authors and illustrators there to talk about the written word. The Decatur Book Festival is August 31 through September 2.