Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World - Hardcover

Eat your heart out, Tooth Fairy. According to the informal research of the author, the world is full of other, equally fascinating myths and traditions about what happens, or should be done, when those milk choppers part company with childish gums. If you come from Chile or Costa Rica, your parents will have the tooth made into a charm. If you're Venezuelan, you put the tooth under your pillow...and hope that a mouse brings you money. (Oddly enough, mice, milk teeth, and money are associated all over the world.) Playful illustrations by G. Brian Karas include a world map, plus lots of fun depictions of the world's dentally challenged junior inhabitants. (Ages 4 to 8) --Richard Farr

"If children think a visit from the Tooth Fairy is the only way to trade in baby teeth, they're in for a surprise. Beeler's funny and intriguing sampling of lost-tooth traditions from around the world shows that teeth are every bit as likely to end up down a mouse hole, in the stomach of a dog, or on the roof of a house, as they are under a pillow. . . . Lots and lots of fun." Booklist, ALA

"The demands of the Tooth Fairy are almost as strenuous as those of Santa, but she has some help, because, as Beeler tells it, the customs about teeth vary around the world. . . . A charming debut." Kirkus Reviews

"This book describes a variety of rituals for the numerous occasions on which a child loses baby teeth. About a half-dozen countries in a broad geographic region are covered on each two-page spread. For each nation, an appealing youngster dressed in native attire provides one- or two-sentence summaries of local tooth customs. . . . A world map helps with the geography and a couple of appended dental diagrams give youngsters a simple oral overview. . . . A fun comparative study for the tooth-losing crowd." School Library Journal