Lucy Bate (–1993)

Little Rabbit experiences one of the common childhood rites of passage in this charming picture-book, first published in 1975, and a favorite with young readers ever since! To wit: she loses her first tooth, a momentous occasion that takes place at the dinner table, as she is eating chocolate ice cream. Wondering what she should do with the tooth - throw it away? make a necklace of it? leave it for the tooth-fairy? - she explores the options with her patient parents, who allow her to make her own decisions, and come to her own conclusions.

I really liked the fact that Lucy Bate neither confirms nor denies the existence of the tooth fairy in her narrative, and that Little Rabbit's parents - whose comments seem so typically parental, in a familiar and funny way - are so obviously involved, without seeming overly cloying, in their affection. The author really has the rhythms of family dinner discussion down pat, just as the illustrator, Diane de Groat, has her characters' lapine charm captured perfectly, in her artwork. All in all, a cute exploration of an experience that young readers will immediately recognize as something that they too have undergone.… (mais)