Beautiful illustrations, a bit of natural history, and readable rhymes- great book! ( )

A little fairy named Tate is trained in the proper way to be a Tooth Fairy by her older sister May in this rhyming British picture-book from author Michelle Robinson and illustrator Briony May Smith. Taken on a whirlwind world tour, Tate must obtain the teeth of all manner of creatures, from swimming hippos to lazing seals. But the greatest challenge of all is a little girl named Melissa, who likes to capture fairies and kiss them...

Having enjoyed other picture-books from both Robinson—The Forgetful Knight, Grandmas from Mars—and Smith—Margaret's Unicorn—I expected to find Tooth Fairy in Training quite charming, especially as I have been eagerly anticipating the follow-up from this pair, Witch in Training. Unfortunately, although the story idea was fun, the rhyming text read well enough, and the artwork was delightful—my favorite scenes, visually speaking, were the interior shots of Tate and May's fairy home, inside a tree—something was missing for me with this one. I don't want to overstate the issue—it was still an entertaining little picture-book romp, one I would recommend to picture-book readers looking for fairy stories in general, and Tooth Fairy stories in particular—but I just didn't make any kind of connection to it, in the same way that I did with some of Robinson and Smith's other books. Mileage varies, of course, and everyone else online seems to love this one, so I'd say give it a go, if you are in the market for this sort of tale. ( )

Pencil illustrations colored digitally combine to create a unique take on the tooth-fairy lore. Follow May and her tooth fairy trainee Tate, as Tate learns that even non-cute animals need the tooth fairy to visit. Animals such as hippos, narwhals, sharks, eels and snakes. This story is told in rhyme. ( )