Open wide Tooth school inside

Laurie Keller

Book - 2000

Through a classroom setting in which teeth are the students, presents information about the structure and care of teeth and the services provided by dentists.

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Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room j617.6/Keller Checked In
Subjects
Published
New York : Henry Holt 2000.
Language
English
Main Author
Laurie Keller (-)
Edition
1st ed
Physical Description
unpaged : col. ill. ; 26 cm
ISBN
9781404671317
9780805061925
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Gr. 2^-4, younger for reading aloud. Using the same hilarious collage format she used in her popular The Scrambled States of America (1998), Keller presents dental basics through an imagined day at Tooth School. On wildly busy pages filled with facts and comical asides, Dr. Flossman and his 32 young pupils (representing the appropriate break down of incisors, canines, premolars, and molars) explore tooth decay and care, using creative devices such as student book reports to deliver the facts and some fiction (a video about Toothland, The Tooth Fairy's amusement park, for example). There's plenty of information, cleverly woven into laugh-out-loud humor for all ages: pictures of Dracula (before and after braces) for younger children; meditation and self-help humor for older ones; in-jokes for adults. Silly quizzes review the text ("Tooth decay is caused by: a) bacteria and germs; b) slugs and worms; c) bad perms"). The chaos of the book's full-page spreads perfectly captures the manic energy of a school day, and will leave kids giggling and ready to learn more. --Gillian Engberg

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Dr. Flossman welcomes his 32 students,-eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars, and 12 molars-to class. "Many of the book's abundant puns and asides are delivered by the teeth themselves," said PW. Ages 5-10. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 1-4-This wacky book about dental hygiene begins with Dr. Flossman teaching his class, a set of personified teeth sitting at their desks looking "clean" and "bright." After the pledge of allegiance "-to this mouth and to the dentist who takes care of us," attendance is taken, and each tooth is named and identified. The teacher lectures about the parts of a tooth, primary vs. permanent teeth, and even the Tooth Fairy. Then the class is divided into groups: incisors, canines, premolars, and molars, for lunch. Following a lesson about tooth decay, reports on "teeth throughout history" are presented. Then the bell rings, signaling the end of the day. Students are advised to "rinse, gargle, and spit in a cup!-And don't forget to brush!" as they run haphazardly from the room. Two short-answer quizzes about the lesson are appended. The language and humor are somewhat sophisticated, but most youngsters will get a good laugh from a day in "Tooth School." The busy layout features lots of appealing color and animation rendered in acrylics, colored pencils, markers, and collage. Alice McGinty's Staying Healthy: Dental Care (Rosen, 1997) is a more straightforward and serious approach to the subject. For a truly painless, lighthearted look at the subject, open Open Wide and smile.-Elizabeth Maggio, Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

(Primary) Anthropomorphic teeth, endowed with facial expressions and sticklike arms and legs, may evoke images from ham-handed hygiene class filmstrips. But no grade school audiovisual ever employed the raucous humor and loopy perspective of this introduction to dental health. Set in Tooth School, where Sally Incisor, Conan Canine, and all their enameled pals study under the tutelage of Dr. Flossman, the book identifies the four different types of teeth (incisors, canines, premolars, and molars) and their functions (cutting, tearing, crushing, grinding), shows the components of a tooth in cross-section, and discusses the importance of brushing, flossing, and dental care. What makes the book irresistible is the free-wheeling way in which information is presented. The students sit in a classroom circle that matches their locations in the mouth; facts about primary teeth are laboriously printed on lined loose-leaf paper as part of a school report; the Tooth Fairy even pops in to explain her role in the operation. The sprawling comic art, featuring acrylics and collage, is busy with unruly figures riding on a ""molar coaster,"" jumping rope made with floss, and engaging in food fights as they soliloquize, trade insults, and make comic asides. Their captioned banter is sometimes mundane, but the frenetic visual style always holds interest. Consistently humorous, the book is instructive throughout, and sometimes even cautionary: the close-up photograph depicting ""holey green teeth"" will send just about any reader running for the Water Pik. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Painless dentistry is lightened with a dose of laughing gas. Fans of Keller's wacky The Scrambled States of America (1999) will find this a fact-filled, sure-fire, kid-centric introduction to a familiar staple of the elementary school curriculum: dental health. Here, Keller's inspired conceit--a "tooth" school "class" presided over by the single-minded Dr. Flossman--offers almost endless opportunities for kid-pleasing puns and clever classroom asides. The book begins with roll call of the "incoming" students: thirty-two teeth (eight incisors, four canines, eight premolars, twelve molars, and four wisdom). The "school" day then progresses through typical classroom routines: announcements ("GO CHOMPERS"), a lesson featuring a cross-section chart of a tooth, a student report on "Primary Teeth," an "informative" video on the Tooth Fairy, group process (incisors together please!), lunch (followed by brushing and flossing, of course), a lesson on tooth decay and cavities, and student reports on the history of dentistry. Check out the funny but fact-based multiple choice and True/False tests (Keller thoughtfully provides the answers). Dynamic book design mimics the untutored artwork of a particularly fun-loving and terribly talented ten-year-old. Keller employs a busy mix of stamp-pad art, ruled paper, notebook sheets, acrylics, colored pencil, crayon, marker drawings, and collage. Spiced with ample cartoony little asides (featuring appropriately costumed, fully ambulatory, and pleasingly smart-mouthed talking teeth), Keller's art delivers the "message" while entertaining, inviting close study and provoking belly laughs. A perfect gift for the dentist who has everything. Every waiting room (and library) needs a copy. (Picture book. 8-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.