THE MISSING TOOTH is a short little book that is written at the 210 Lexile level. Which is to say that it is at the upper edge of Kindergarten, almost First Grade level.

***spoiler ALERT***
The story is about Kim who is sort of having a bad day. She wakes up late, finds a hole in her sock and trips over her cat, before losing her tooth while eating an apple at breakfast. Kim's a little worried about how she looks with the toothless gap after this-- until she meets Jan on the bus. Jan is also missing a tooth and Jan looks fine, so Kim is reassured.

The book ends with Kim waking up on time the next morning with tooth-money!!!

END OF SPOILER

Losing teeth is a really popular topic with kids. When mine were little they were absolutely fascinated by the whole process, and little books like this are a fun way to share their enthusiasm and get in some reading practice.

Not Pulitzer material, but a fun little book with a sense of humor. ( )

At the end of a busy morning, Kim loses her tooth, and worries that she looks like a Jack-o-Lantern.

Early readers will find Kim a relatable character, hearing of her morning routine and process of losing her tooth. All challenging words in the text can be sounded out, and the repetitive "'Oh no,' said Kim" will help readers learn to recognize those words at sight. The pictures are amateurish pen and watercolor, but they accurately illustrate the situations described in the text.

Recommended for early reader collections. ( )