Rotten Teeth [Hardcover]

Laura Simms (Author), David Catrow (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Speaking in front of the class isn't easy for small people like Melissa Herman. Especially when there's nothing very special to say about her house or her family or herself. But with the help of her older brother, Melissa borrows a bottle from her father's dental office to take to show and tell. The teacher is appalled, but the children are intrigued. David Catrow's hilariously zany illustrations reveal that there is nothing ordinary about Melissa Herman, or her house or her family. The bright artwork is laugh-aloud funny and will have children begging to hear the story again, or maybe invent their very own tale.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First-grader Melissa Hermann needs something for show and tell. In her dentist dad's office, with the help of her brother Norman she finds a bottle full of pulled teeth. Melissa carefully washes enough teeth to give one to every member of her class, then disguises the bottle in a brown bag. In a suspenseful scene?rendered even more dramatic by a worm's-eye view of desks and gaping students?Melissa slinks to the front of the classroom with her prize and stands there nervously. "Finally she opened up the bag, held up the bottle, and blurted out, 'ROTTEN TEETH! FROM REAL MOUTHS!' " With just a dash of hyperbole, Simms (The Bone Man) explains how the teeth horrify Melissa's teacher but enhance the girl's popularity among her peers. At recess, Melissa captivates her audience with gruesome tales of dentistry and learns the power of storytelling. If Simms's intent is to banish shyness, Catrow's (Westward Ho, Carlotta!) goal is to catapult a humorous story into the realm of the tall tale. He boosts the irony by providing Melissa with ample show-and-tell oddities; her home not only houses a dentist's office but is a Victorian curiosity shop of bizarre decorations (a boar's head, a prehistoric skull) and living oddities (a monkey, an elephant, a Venus flytrap). Catrow tints his over-the-top watercolor illustrations with dental-decay-inspired yellows and greens, and he dresses his gawky, frizzy-haired characters in ridiculously mismatched clothes. This not-for-the-squeamish volume should impress future fans of Southern gothic. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-A hot-air balloon is anchored outside the Hermann household, while inside a python rests calmly on the couch and a full suit of armor guards the living room. Still, first-grader Melissa complains to her older brother Norman that there is nothing in their house interesting enough to take to school for Show and Tell. He sympathetically ponders the problem and suggests the bottle of rotten teeth in the back of Dad's home dental office. With Norman's help, Melissa takes the treasure to school in a brown paper bag. Her classmates are enraptured and their barrage of questions prompts the shy girl to talk for the first time. She finds herself describing bloody towels, loud moaning, and a host of other details, and, to her delight, discovers a newfound ability as a storyteller. This funny tale is made even more hilarious by the cartoon illustrations. While Melissa bemoans a boring household, the picture shows Dad welcoming an extraterrestrial patient. A larger-than-life dental patient wearing Pecos Bill attire is shown looming over a tiny Melissa as she talks excitedly to enthralled classmates. The visual humor is sensational. Together, Simms and Catrow have created a winner.
Jackie Hechtkopf, Talent House School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; 1st ed edition (September 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395828503
• ISBN-13: 978-0395828502
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,283,375 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Afraid of the dentist yet?, August 15, 2000

By 

"tquintana" (Forked River, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rotten Teeth (Hardcover)

My kids really enjoyed the illustrations in this book but they are young enough to be oblivious to fear of the dentist. There is much mention of pain, blood, moaning, etc. in the procuring of these rotten teeth which I suppose is a fine lesson for older children uninterested in the toothbrush. For the younger set I believe it might make a routine trip to the dentist seem unnessarily frightening.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, November 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Rotten Teeth (Hardcover)

My six-year-old daughter, who usually gets a bit squirmy when there are more than a few sentences per page, is captivated by this story. Even though she proclaims the illustrations of the rotten teeth (which the main character's dentist father extracted from patients and collected in a jar) disgusting, she is really tickled at the idea of grossing out everyone at school with such a unique show-and-tell offering. There are lessons to be taught (such as what is "inapppropriate" at school) if that's what you look for in a children's book, but the book can also be enjoyed for the pure silliness factor and the beautiful but absurd illustrations.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Rotten Teeth", July 11, 2000

By 

Yuvonia Mardis - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rotten Teeth (Hardcover)

The title of the book is right on target. Could Norman have known about the disruption a bottle of rotten teeth was sure to cause? Will Melissa ever feel she isn't special again? This book is wonderfully written with great illustrations. As a teacher, I may have second thoughts about our next Show and Tell experience. The story values the opportunity for students to be creative and different.