From Publishers Weekly
Bringing back the likable lapins from Lunch Bunnies and Show and Tell Bunnies, Lasky and Hafner again convey the trials and triumphs of elementary school with plenty of humor and unmistakable empathy. Clyde and Rosemary, his best friend and science-fair partner, are left high and dry for the science fair when the plants they have been growing for it suffer an untimely demise (as Clyde's big brother puts it, "They croaked. Dead, dead, dead"). But as Clyde wiggles a very loose tooth, he gets an idea, and he and Rosemary decide to test how different substances affect the color of teeth. Clyde asks his father to yank the loose tooth and then convinces Rosemary to make the supreme sacrifice: forgoing the Tooth Fairy and donating her first-ever loose tooth to the cause. Lasky and Hafner have a knack for taking kids' concerns seriously and then persuading kids to laugh anyway. In one of the caper's funnier scenarios, a tutu-clad, winged rabbit Tooth Fairy appears to Clyde in a dream, surrounded by jars of teeth in different liquids, and announces, "I just don't understand.... How could you do this to me?" His equally droll response: "Science. We did it for science." The dialogue is on target at every turn, and the watercolor and ink pictures, best for their range of facial expressions, likewise hit the mark. Ages 4-7. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-After Clyde's science-project plants die, he's "-up a creek without a paddle," as his brother says. Then when the distraught bunny's father tells him how glistening white his loose tooth looks, he remembers Grandma's brown teeth and gets an idea. Why not put three teeth in different substances for a week, and make observations for the project? His partner, however, is reluctant to sacrifice her first loose tooth to the cause ("But what about the Tooth Fairy?"). Nonetheless, the next day she brings it in a jar of strawberry Jell-O. They advertise and get a third tooth, which they soak in grape soda. Clyde and Rosemary win a blue ribbon for their "Yucky Teeth" experiment and the next morning Clyde feels a lump under his pillow. He opens a package and finds a shiny coin, his tooth, and a note from the Tooth Fairy explaining that "When it's for science, you can keep both." The detailed watercolor-and-ink cartoons are amusing and expressive. The cozy domestic scenes and busy classrooms and school auditorium are reminiscent of Marc Brown's "Arthur" books (Little, Brown). The giant bunny Tooth Fairy of Clyde's dreams, complete with butterfly wings, antennae, magic wand, green ballet slippers, and dollar-sign purse, is sure to bring a chuckle. A great read-aloud, especially in anticipation of a science fair.
June Roberts, Pennington Elementary School, Nashville, TN Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
