Title:  The Tooth That's on the Loose!

Author:  Chris Robertson

Genre:  Teeth / Humor / Western / Parody

Year Published: 2017

Year Read: 2017

Publisher:  Xist Publishing

Source:  eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Mischievous Behavior)

 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Xist Publishing for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars 

I will admit that I had only read a few children’s books that dealt with the theme of children losing their baby teeth (mainly Marc Brown’s “Arthur’s Tooth”). So, when NetGalley offered a children’s book called “The Tooth that’s on the Loose!” by Chris Robertson that has a creative take on children losing their baby teeth, I knew that I had to get this book as soon as possible!

Who is that toothy and wiggly varmint who is running around town, causing mayhem wherever he goes? Tooth Be Wiggly (T.B. Wiggly, for short) that’s who! This outlaw goes around leaving holes in people’s mouths (in other words, taking people’s teeth and causing a hole in their mouths where the teeth used to be) and Sheriff Tex is trying to recruit some kids to help him bring down this outlaw!

Can the kids bring down T.B. Wiggly?

Read this book to find out! 

I must admit that I was quite impressed with this creative and odd little book! Chris Robertson has done a great job at making a dilemma that kids would have, which is losing their baby teeth at a young age and turn that dilemma into an outlaw villain named T.B. Wiggly, which made this book truly creative and interesting to read! I also liked the fact that Sheriff Tex was the one narrating the story and telling the audience who T.B. Wiggly is and why he has to be stopped as it allows us to explore the world through the characters’ point of view. I really like the way that Chris Robertson is able to incorporate so much humor in this book as I cannot help but laugh at the idea about a living tooth going around causing mayhem wherever he goes! Chris Robertson’s artwork is hilarious and exaggerated to look at, especially of the image of T.B. Wiggly himself as he is a tooth that has a large black mustache and tiny beady eyes that portrays his rugged personality. I also loved the mischievous looks that T.B. Wiggly gives to the audience as it helps lets the audience know that T.B. Wiggly is up to no good! 



The reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because I felt that more could have been done with T. B. Wiggly himself as he felt like a one-sided villain of the story whose only purpose of being in this story is to be the generic bad guy who steals people’s teeth. While I understand that T.B. Wiggly is representing the dilemma that young children go through, which is losing their baby teeth, I sort of wished that there was more development to his character besides being the bad guy that would make him stand out more in the story.

Overall, “The Tooth that’s on the Loose!” is a truly creative story for children who are going through losing their baby teeth and want to read a story that tackles this issue in a humorous and creative way! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Harry is a little boy with a big imagination. (I wrote that before I read the book description, and I'm keeping it!) Join Harry as he battles his way through the perilous fields of lava. Who will save him?

Like the author's fabulous "My Yellow Umbrella", "Harry and the Hot Lava" celebrates childhood imagination and play, but this time from a boy's point-of-view. And of course, boys love adventure. Full of the author-illustrator's wonderful images and graphics, this book is sure to become a favorite with your little guy ... or girl. Just out of interest, Harry is based on the author's son, and the author himself also makes an appearance.

Another winner!

I received this book in return for an honest review.

The girl who owns the yellow umbrella looks forward to a perfect day spent with her favorite "toy". We follow her through her imaginative games, always accompanied by her cute dog and her precious yellow umbrella.

This lovely picture book is dedicated to the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School. Its story is gentle and comforting, paying homage to that one special item each of us had in our childhood. It celebrates the power of a child's imagination to use a simple everyday object to transport them to other worlds.

The story is complemented by the beautiful, simple, old-fashioned illustrations by Chris himself. They are reminiscent of those found in the Harry books by Gene Zion and illustrated by Margaret Bloy Graham. I'm not surprised to hear that these books were a special part of Chris' early life.

Highly recommended.

I received this book for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Gone Skiving, Back In An Hour - Chris Ro... I read some reviews for this short story before grabbing a copy. Because of this I knew there'd be some touchy, if not very repulsive things that take place in the story. I went into it looking from both sides of the coin hoping that'd give me a better appreciation for the work.

The main character and his good friend/boss are terrible people. I won't get into what they do or how they think in this review. I'd like the reader to find this out on his or her own. All I'm going to mention is 1) you can find out a few Amazon reviews, and 2) I don't think the reader will like it much. It's not the type of behavior society wants to admit can easily exist.

I'm not basing my rating on that "wow, he really wrote a story about this" factor. In that sense, it may even get a better rating from me. It's getting a low rating because I feel a story dealing with themes such as what these evil characters do, how corrupt the town is, etc can only effectively be conveyed to the reader through a longer piece of prose. I'm not suggesting the author would need to write a novel. I just think a longer short story would do it justice; the 3-4 pages that this is didn't work for me. It's not even touching on the surface of what's going on. It felt more of a readers digest version...but there was no "full" version to read if the digest interested the reader.

I almost gave it a 1 star, but I decided that since it has potential it should get 2 stars. It has potential to raise a good amount of awareness to the issues brought up if it was done right. I hope that's what the author wanted to make happen. I'll give the author a little more credit if that was the goal.

Gone Skiving, Back In An Hour - Chris Ro... I read some reviews for this short story before grabbing a copy. Because of this I knew there'd be some touchy, if not very repulsive things that take place in the story. I went into it looking from both sides of the coin hoping that'd give me a better appreciation for the work.

The main character and his good friend/boss are terrible people. I won't get into what they do or how they think in this review. I'd like the reader to find this out on his or her own. All I'm going to mention is 1) you can find out a few Amazon reviews, and 2) I don't think the reader will like it much. It's not the type of behavior society wants to admit can easily exist.

I'm not basing my rating on that "wow, he really wrote a story about this" factor. In that sense, it may even get a better rating from me. It's getting a low rating because I feel a story dealing with themes such as what these evil characters do, how corrupt the town is, etc can only effectively be conveyed to the reader through a longer piece of prose. I'm not suggesting the author would need to write a novel. I just think a longer short story would do it justice; the 3-4 pages that this is didn't work for me. It's not even touching on the surface of what's going on. It felt more of a readers digest version...but there was no "full" version to read if the digest interested the reader.

I almost gave it a 1 star, but I decided that since it has potential it should get 2 stars. It has potential to raise a good amount of awareness to the issues brought up if it was done right. I hope that's what the author wanted to make happen. I'll give the author a little more credit if that was the goal.