How to Trick the Tooth Fairy

March 5, 2018
Russell, coauthor (with her mother, Rachel Renée Russell) of the Dork Diaries series, introduces Kaylee, a prankster who is “always looking for her next unsuspecting victim.” (Readers may find some of her tricks mean-spirited, as when she feeds friends cookies with “dog toothpaste” in place of frosting.) The pranking field is leveled when Kaylee leaves the Tooth Fairy a toy frog instead of her tooth—and the fairy retaliates by conjuring a bevy of real frogs. After Kaylee serves the fairy a piece of pie topped with hot sauce, things get messier: ice cream flies through the air, and cats and dogs rain from the ceiling. A familiar-sounding narrative motif (“Now, if you prank the Tooth Fairy with prankster pie, she’ll top it with...”) strikes a derivative chord, but Rolli (Claudia & Moth) humorously amplifies the escalating chaos in digitally enhanced, candy-hued watercolors. On one amusing spread, the tricksters gaze quizzically at each other, the fairy with candy sprinkles in her pink locks and Kaylee with a banana peel crowning her unruly tresses. Ages 4–8.

March 15, 2018
A trickster girl goes head-to-head with the Tooth Fairy in this wild tale by a co-author of the Dork Diaries.Kaylee, a brown girl with big, curly hair, is a "prank princess in training," always finding opportunities to prank people with anything from masks and water balloons to Oreos filled with dog toothpaste. But the "ruling prank princess" is the Tooth Fairy, a white, pink-haired fairy with a mischievous grin and scheming green eyes. When the Tooth Fairy reaches under Kaylee's pillow for a tooth, what she gets is a fake frog. But she responds with real frogs! What ensues is a battle of pranks that gets very messy, with desserts thrown all over the kitchen, water sprayed everywhere, and loads of trouble. After their wild romp gets out of hand, they clean up together, share fairy-dust cookies, and become prank-pulling princess friends. The illustrations are endearing and expressive, done in a neutral palette with just enough pink and glitter to attract princess lovers to this decidedly unladylike tale.A fun read for every young practical jokester who fantasizes about meeting their match. (Picture book. 4-9)

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