By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The joke’s from you!
That’s because you’re a pretty funny kid. You’re always being silly, pranking friends, goofing around, and joking to make people laugh – although sometimes, you have to admit that things get out of hand. In “How to Trick the Tooth Fairy” by Erin Danielle Russell, illustrated by Jennifer Hansen Rolli, they also get out of, um, mouth.
Kaylee was the Princess of Pranking.
“Mischief” was practically her middle name because there wasn’t one single day in a year when she didn’t play a prank. She was known to prank her sister awake. Kaylee even pranked on Christmas. All her friends knew the score and they were careful around her. No sense in being her next “unsuspecting victim.”
But, believe it or not, Kaylee wasn’t the biggest prankster in the world.
No, that would be The Tooth Fairy.
Seriously, have you ever actually seen The Tooth Fairy? Yeah, what can you say about pixie dust and swift fairy wings? Not much, except: can you spot trouble here?
Anyhow, one night, right after Kaylee lost a tooth, The Tooth Fairy came to visit. She was expecting to find a small, hard, white object beneath Kaylee’s pillow but we are talking about Kaylee here and instead, The Tooth Fairy got a frog.
When you pillow-prank a professional with a rubber frog, you get dozens of real frogs in your bedroom in answer.
From there, it was “Game On!”
Kaylee pranked The Tooth Fairy with a slice of chocolate pie and hot-sauce topping. Ugh. The Tooth Fairy retaliated with a roomful of sticky ice cream with whipped cream and cherries that landed absolutely everywhere. What a mess! Of course, Kaylee couldn’t leave things well enough alone so she retaliated and The Tooth Fairy retaliated again and before long, payback was no fun. Nobody meant to hurt anybody.
What happens when two big pranksters have to call off their epic prank-off? Is it possible for them to keep a long-term truce?
So you say you’ve got a mischief-maker in the house. The sillier, the better for her and the more laughs, the more fun. That’s why you need “How to Trick the Tooth Fairy” around: this book is a perfect giggle-generator.
Part of the reason is that author Erin Danielle Russell’s Kaylee is pure playfulness, which makes her easy for fun-loving kids to understand and identify with. Kaylee’s pranking isn’t malicious misbehavior or worthy of scolding; it’s messy in a colossal way, but it’s really just kid stuff. The Tooth Fairy, on the other hand, lends a bit of magic pixie influence to the tale. Her pranks really go over-the-top; with artwork by Jennifer Hansen Rolli, mayhem adds to the free-wheeling free-for-all feel of the book.
For four-to-eight-year-olds who know how to get a little wild, this book will become a favorite pretty quickly. It’s also for kids who love a good prank, and for children who haven’t met The Tooth Fairy yet. The fun they’ll find inside “How to Trick the Tooth Fairy” ain’t no joke.
