"Help, I've been robbed!
It'sth a disthasthter!"
Grandpa's teeth, handmade by the finest Swiss craftsman, are gone — stolen from his bedside table! Grandpa suspects anyone who doesn't smile widely enough to prove that their teeth are their own. Soon everyone in town is smiling — all the time — and their ghastly grins are frightening the tourists away. Can the culprit be caught before the whole town cracks up
Popular Australion cartoonist Rod Clement, illustrator of Edward The Emu and Edwina The Emu by Sheena Knowles, has created a rollicking whodunit with a surprise ending that will have readers grinning from ear to ear.
00-01 CA Young Reader Medal Masterlist
Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot
Where could grandpa's false teeth have gone? The family hunts everywhere, and even the police are called in to help. The entire town goes on the defensive, with everyone smiling to prove that they are not the teethnappers. It's all for naught and the town finally takes up a collection so that grandpa can order new teeth. It isn't until the very end that readers discover the real culprit in this toothsome tale.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 3Grandpa's very expensive, custom-made false teeth have been stolen. The police are alerted and an artist's rendering of the missing choppers is posted as "wanted" all over town. Even though "Unsolved Crimes" broadcasts a reenactment on television and dentures are found in the mailbox, none are the missing ones. Grandpa suspects everyone, so townsfolk smile widely to show that their teeth are their own. Finally, people of the town rally to Grandpa's cause and kick in to replace his teeth. Now everyone is grinning, including Grandpa's always dour dog, Gump, who smiles a very "familiar" smile. The text reinforces the humor in the pictures, displaying Grandpa's distinct toothless talk, "It'sth much more stherious. It'sth my teeththey've been sthtolen." Clement's slightly exaggerated characters are perfectly suited to this toothy tale. Pictures extend the text as evidenced in the search of Grandpa's messy room where everything from apple cores to bugs are found, but not teeth. Grandpa's Teeth is a hoot.Susan M. Moore, Louisville Free Public Library, KY
