Independent Reading Level: Grades k-2
Awards:
South Asia Book Award for Children's & Young Adult Literature 2013
Ezra Jack Keats Book Award 2013
Notable Books for a Global Society 2013
El día de los niños / El día de los libros 2013

Ganesha's Sweet Tooth is a traditional literature picture book about the mythical God, Ganesha. This book shows students to embrace their differences and learn to love them. We see Ganesha find a special purpose in his tooth even after he has broken it. The illustrations, by Emily Haynes, enhance and extend the text, but they also do much more than just enhance the text. The illustrations allow students to take different interpretations from the illustrations. The combination of the text and illustrations together make this book meaningful, fun, and full of life. It is a great book to read to students in the classroom. ( )

I love all the little details in this book. It was so fun to read and learn a little about a classic tale.

Co-authors Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes tell the story of the Hindu god Ganesha and how he came to be the scribe who recorded the ancient epic, The Mahabharata, in this charming picture-book. A great lover of all things sweet, the elephant-headed god eventually breaks one of his tusks on a super-jumbo jawbreaker laddoo. Distressed at this occurrence, Ganesha is not to be consoled, even by his friend and steed, Mr. Mouse. But when he attempts to throw his tusk at the moon and strikes the poet Vyasa instead, he finds himself using his broken appendage to record one of the great works of ancient Hindu literature...

Pairing an entertaining and humorous text from Patel and Haynes with gorgeous, eye-popping illustrations from Patel, Ganesha's Sweet Tooth was a distinct pleasure to read and peruse. Although interested in folklore and mythology from all parts of the world, somehow I haven't seemed to have read many works with a Hindu background. This one was all the more engaging for me, being unknown, and made me want to read more about the subject, and perhaps track down a children's version The Mahabharata. I appreciated the fact that the authors describe in their afterword how they changed the story, in this retelling. Recommended to all young folklore and mythology lovers, and to anyone looking for children's stories with an Indian cultural and Hindu religious background. ( )

This picture book is based off of a popular legend in Hindu mythology. Ganesha, a Hindu God , has a sweet tooth for fruit, rice, candy and other sweet things. Ganesha has an elephant head and cruises around with his magical mouse collecting these sweets. Ganesha's favorite is laddoo, a special Indian dessert. One day Ganesha and the magical mouse stumble upon a new kind of laddoo. This laddoo is a jawbreaker laddoo. Mr. Mouse warns Ganesha not to eat this laddoo because he will break his tusk, but Ganesha does not listen. Ganesha takes one bite and breaks his tusk right off. Ganesha tries everything he can think of to get his tusk back on but nothing works. Ganesha is so embarrassed of his missing tusk that out of frustration he throws his tusk and it hits an old man in the head. However, this old man is not mad because this tusk is exactly what he has been searching for. His name is Vyasa, and he needs a special scribe to write a poem. But, this poem is so long that every pen that he has used so far has broken. Vyasa asks Ganesha if he can use his tusk as a scribe. Ganesha agrees and they begin writing, before Ganesha knows it he had already forgotten about how silly he looks without his tusk. This story has a central message to except your imperfections. ( )