Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World [Hardcover]

Selby Beeler (Author), G. Brian Karas (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 1998 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years | Lexile Measure: 770L (What's this?)

What do you do when you lose a tooth? Do you put it under your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy? Not if you live in Botswana! In Botswana, children throw their teeth onto the roof. In Afghanistan they drop their teeth down mouse holes, and in Egypt they fling their teeth at the sun! Travel around the world and discover the surprising things children do when they lose a tooth. Selby B. Beeler spent years collecting traditions from every corner of the globe for this whimsical book, and G. Brian Karas adds to the fun, filling every page with humorous detail. He perfectly captures the excitement and pride that children experience when a tooth falls out.

This title has been selected as a Common Core Text Exemplar (Grades 2-3, Informational Texts)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Eat your heart out, tooth fairy. According to the informal research of the author, the world is full of other, equally fascinating myths and traditions about what happens, or should be done, when those milk choppers part company with childish gums. If you come from Chile or Costa Rica, your parents will have the tooth made into a charm. If you're Venezuelan, you put the tooth under your pillow and hope that a mouse brings you money. (Oddly enough, mice, milk teeth, and money are associated all over the world.) Playful illustrations by G. Brian Karas include a world map, plus lots of fun depictions of the world's dentally challenged junior inhabitants. (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr

From Publishers Weekly

In Beeler's first book, children from familiar and remote countries on each continent explain what they do when they lose a tooth. The Tooth Fairy surfaces on several occasions; but for kids from a number of countries, she's replaced by a mouse, a squirrel or another critter. In other traditions, parents fashion jewelry from baby teeth, children wrap a tooth in a piece of food and feed it to an animal or throw their teeth on the roof. Since Beeler organizes her material by geographic region, some spreads featuring similar traditions of neighboring countries become redundant (e.g., Colombia, "I put my tooth under my pillow and wait for a mouse called El Raton Miguelito to take my tooth and leave money in its place," followed by Venezuela, "I put my tooth under my pillow. While I am asleep, a mouse will take the tooth and bring me some coins"). But the variety of customs across the globe compensates for any occasional similarities. Karas's (The Windy Day) cheerful cartoon art shows round-faced kids?many proudly displaying a gap in their smiles?dressed in native garb and often standing near an example of their local architecture. This book will be an eye-opener for young Americans who may have assumed that the Tooth Fairy holds a worldwide visa. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395891086
• ISBN-13: 978-0395891087
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 0.4 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it! June 19, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

We found this book in our dentist's office and it kept my kids occupied with no thought of their about-to-happen visit. What a stroke of brilliance to have this in the waiting room. When we left, I saw an older man reading it and he had a big smile on his face. My dentist said she's been giving a copy to graduating dental students ... of course. My cousin's graduating from dental school next spring, so I'm glad to have THAT gift problem solved. Besides, it's fun to read. Who would have thought that tooth-losing traditions would be different all over the world? My kids started asking what else is the same but different with kids in other countries--good question.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful book for children and adults March 10, 2005

By M. G. SFAELLOU

Format:Paperback

Even though this book was written primarily for children, as a folklorist I found it most enjoyable and discovered so many fascinating traditions that are not recorded in any folklore archives. Here every single continent is represented and we learn how children of different nationalities dispose of their lost milk tooth. Of course, it is only to be expected that a few obscure examples have not been included. For instance, there is no reference to the old Cornish custom by which "children's first teeth are burnt to prevent dog's teeth or 'snaggles' - irregular teeth coming in their stead" (M.A. Courtney "Folklore and Legends of Cornwall", 1890, rep. 1989, pp. 156-7). Moreover, there is no mention of the Maltese custom of burying the tooth in a flower pot so that the new tooth (like the plant in the pot) will emerge (Pullicino, J.C. "Studies in Maltese Folklore", Malta Univ. Press, 1976, rep.1992, p.245). Yet there are so many fascinating examples, most of which were unknown to me. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Greek custom of throwing the milk tooth onto the roof ( a custom I was interested to learn is also pracitised in Korea and Taiwan). Infact, in Greece the throwing of the tooth onto the roof is accompanied by the reciting of a little rhyme which can be loosely translated as follows: 'Take sow my tooth and give me an iron one so that I can chew rusks'. In some regions of Greece, it is a mouse not a sow which is invoked. Therefore I was interested to see how the mouse also features in several parallel traditions throughout the world. For instance, we learn that Spanish children believe that the mouse Ratoncito Perez will substitute the tooth under the pillow for money or sweets(candies) as will his French counterpart La Petite Souris. Some peoples wrap their teeth in various materials for different reasons. Children of other nations bury their teeth ( e.g. Filipino children to make a wish). Yet in Turkey it is parents, not children who bury the tooth. Thai and Vietnames children dispose of their teeth in different ways, depending on whether it is an upper or lower tooth. The custom of Tajikistan reminded me of Greek mythology since the 'sown' teeth 'grow up to be warriors'. There are so many more interesting examples and it would be a shame for me to divulge more of them here. It is better to have access to all the examples by buying a copy of this book. I can guarantee that both you and your children will thoroughly enjoy it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it. September 25, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

I am a second year dental hygiene student and have recently been reading many tooth fairy tales. I loved the way the author showed the similarities as well as the differences of the world tooth traditions. I brought the book into our college clinic; those that had the chance to read the book loved all the different stories as well. Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World, by Selby B. Beeler, was a joy to read.