This book introduces different folktales of what happens to a tooth once you lose it, in different cultures around the world. It is merely the introduction of what happens to baby teeth after they are lost not all of the different folktales. ( )

After reading Selby B. Beeler's Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World, which outlines some of the folk beliefs and customs concerning the disposal of baby teeth found throughout the world, I thought it would be interesting to track down a collection of tooth-themed folktales. This book from Marlene Targ Brill seemed like it would fit the bill admirably, but despite its deceptive title, Tooth Tales from Around the World is not a collection of tales at all, but (like the Beeler book) a brief discussion of various folk beliefs regarding baby teeth.

Unfortunately, it is not as thorough as Throw Your Tooth on the Roof (which wasn't comprehensive itself), and really added little to my understanding of this kind of belief. I did appreciate that Brill attempted to show the evolution of certain customs, and provided a list of sources, but her details were so scant, her discussion so general, that I wasn't really any more well-informed after reading her book, than I was before. The final page, which struck a fellow reader as a triumphalist celebration of one belief (in the Tooth Fairy) over others, was so ambiguously worded, that I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Katya Krenina's gouache illustrations, with their lovely purple tones, were quite appealing, but not enough to save Tooth Tales from Around the World. All in all, this was a disappointment, and I recommend that young readers with an interest in this subject look to the Beeler book instead. As for me, I guess I'll have to keep hoping for a collection of actual tooth tales to be published. ( )