What If You Had Animal Teeth!? by Samdra Markle (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: What If You Had Animal Teeth!? by Samdra Markle Deborah Stevenson Markle, Sandra. What If You Had Animal Teeth!?; illus. by Howard McWilliam. Scholastic, 2013. [32p]. Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-545-48438-1 $3.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 2–4. “So you’ve lost your front teeth,” says the book in its opening page. “What if an animal’s teeth grew in, instead?” That’s the premise of this delightfully creepy and genuinely informative text on dentition and early biology, which goes on to offer ten different dentally notable animals as models for a kid’s new smile. Each spread includes a toothy close-up photo of the animal in question (great white shark, rattlesnake, crocodile) along with a quick overview of their particular dental advantages and an additional fun fact; facing that page is a gloriously lurid, cartoonish image of a kid with that animal’s teeth, accompanied by a small caption breezily explaining the benefits. It’s a hilarious and instructive combination that makes it clear just how variable and individually suited this aspect of anatomy is, and the art takes the concept and runs—well, chomps—with it. Egregiously toothy kids loom dauntingly into view, sometimes in fish-eye focus, ready to use their new choppers to best effect: the rattlesnake-fanged poindexter calmly routs advancing [End Page 303] bullies, the elephant-tusked little guy uses them to hold up the family car as his dad changes a tire; a girl neatly slices bat-decorated wrapping paper with her pointy vampire-bat teeth. With their mischievous insouciance, the saturated pigments and comically exaggerated portraiture recall Dan Santat (Buckley’s Kel Gilligan’s Daredevil Stunt Show, BCCB 10/12); while in one instance the more over-the-top elements wander uncomfortably close to stereotype, the cast is notably diverse and generally enjoyably exaggerated. Tired of cutesy tooth fairy books? Here’s a dental book with some real bite. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois