Book Review — Batty lessons

I love when a book really hits home with something that is going on in your life. This year, for us that has been “Loose Tooth”, by Steven Kroll.

It is the story of twin bats, Fangs and Flapper, who were best friends until Flapper gets jealous at the attention that Fangs is getting over a loose tooth. Flapper’s teeth aren't wiggling a bit and he gets mad when everyone ignores him. He goes absolutely batty when he hears that the Tooth Fairy is coming. He ends up stealing Fangs’ tooth but he is found out after he accidentally drops it into the batter of muffins his mother is baking. She bites into it at breakfast when the family is sitting around puzzling over why the Tooth Fairy took Fangs’ tooth but didn’t leave him any money.  

In the end, Flapper admits that he took the tooth because he was jealous. His father was empathetic. But just as he is saying that he will give Fangs a quarter that the Tooth Fairy should have left and Flapper a quarter because he has been ignored in the excitement over Fangs’ tooth, Flapper realizes he has a loose tooth. All the drama is forgotten as the two bats fly off together to show their friends.

This was all very relevant this year because Cash’s friends were loosing teeth like crazy while his seemed like they were never going anywhere. He steamed as his friends filled up the tooth chart in his kindergarten class.

But then one day, just before his sixth birthday in April, he had two wiggly teeth. The first one disappeared into his Bi-Rite ice cream — we think. The Tooth Fairy was forgiving though after he wrote her a note. And the teeth have been droppping out like crazy ever since. Last week, he lost two in one day. He was breakdancing in summer camp and lost one that was super wiggly when he got kicked in the mouth. Another one came out randomly later that day. When I said goodbye to him in the morning, he looked normal. When I picked him up, he looked like a little bat. I immediately pulled out Loose Tooth to read that night.