Mo Willems, creator of the revolutionary, award-winning, best-selling Elephant & Piggie books, is back with another breakout beginning-reader series. An ensemble cast of Squirrels, Acorns, and pop-in guests host a page-turning extravaganza. Each book features a funny, furry adventure AND bonus jokes, quirky quizzes, nutty facts, and so, so many Squirrels.
In I Lost My Tooth!, Zoom Squirrel has lost a front tooth! The Squirrels leap into action when they discover the missing tooth is a baby tooth! Do you know more about teeth than the Squirrels do? You will by the end of this book!
Full-color illustrations.
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In this first title in a new easy reader series, Zoom Squirrel has lost his baby tooth and his frenetic squirrel friends (with names like Boom, Zap, and Zowie) are frantic to help him find it, because they literally think the tooth is a baby that must be scared, alone, and hungry! The madcap silliness and humor will please fans of “Elephant & Piggie.” The format is similar, too, with spare text in speech bubbles along with varying text size and boldness to convey strong emotions. Clean, simply drawn illustrations are done in muted shades of brown. In addition to the story, there are a couple of other sections (enough to warrant a Table of Contents for the 96-page book) such as “Acorn-y Jokes,” and the clever addition of some factual information about teeth, provided by a character named Research Rodent. Savvy readers will find Pigeon hiding on one of the pages, and will enjoy locating the various “emote-acorns” throughout the book—acorns with different expressions. VERDICT Another easy reader hit for Willems. Fans of “Elephant & Piggie” will enjoy the author’s trademark humor and format and embrace these new squirrely friends.–Ramarie Beaver, Plano Public Library System, TX
Willems hands the reins of this new early reader series to fifteen cartoony squirrels, a yellow bird (a.k.a. Flappy Squirrel), and a couple of joke-telling acorns. The series is a step up in complexity from the Elephant & Piggie books and geared toward more independent readers. The nutty characters are introduced on the front endpapers, though keeping track of everyone isn’t critical to enjoying the antics. “The BIG Story!” stars Zoom Squirrel, whose pals go Amelia Bedelia on their buddy when they hear Zoom has lost a tooth: “‘WE WILL FIND YOUR TOOTH!’” Upon learning it was a baby tooth, the amateur-hour detectives break out into over-the-top hysteria: “‘Poor baby!’ ‘All alone!’…‘It must be hungry!’” Willems’s familiar cleanly designed—if here more populated—spreads set the characters and their color-coded speech-balloon chatter on solid-bordered white backgrounds. Six shorter sections follow the story, including twelve pages devoted to squirrel Research Rodent, who offers a few factual nuggets about human and squirrel teeth, and “Fur Real,” which is emceed by game-show host Quiz Squirrel and serves up more bite-size information. Three interspersed “acorn-y” jokes are presented by a couple of easily amused acorns; “emote-acorns” show up when “the Squirrels have BIG feelings!” There’s a lot packed into the lively pages, but most app-savvy kids will be accustomed to the visual stimulation. kitty flynn