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Book Review and Reading Fair Project: The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez


When little one's school announced that they were having a school-wide reading fair project I was excited! When I explained to little one what it was about we had a hard time picking a book. He loves all of his books, and all the books are his "favorites."  



However, I do have to confess I did kind of "push" the book "The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez." For me it was about embracing his two cultures, and sharing it with the world (OK, I mean the school). We've read the book hundreds of times, and he knew it by heart.  Little one is quite fond of el "ratoncito." 
I gathered all of the materials to work on his poster board.  Sticky letters for the title, a print-out of a tooth, paint, glitter, paint brushes, and of course, the book! 

I wanted to recreate the cover of the book, so I had little man work on painting the night sky.  He colored the tooth fairy, added the glitter, and he put the title of book at the top.  Furthermore, I asked him the questions to include on the poster board (you can see them below) that I typed up, and glued to his  project:

Author: René Colato Laínez

Publisher and copyright date: Tricycle Press, 2010

Main characters: Tooth Fairy and El Ratón Pérez

Setting: Night time in Miguelito’s bedroom

Plot summary:
Miguelito loses a tooth, and both the Tooth Fairy (she collects lost teeth from children in United States, and English-speaking countries) and El Ratón Pérez (he collects lost teeth from children in Latin America, and Spain) are going to claim the tooth, but they are both surprised to see each other. El Ratón Pérez already has the tooth, and they start fighting over who gets to keep it.

Conflict summary:
Both the Tooth Fairy and Ratón Pérez are pulling and pushing the tooth. Then they lose it, and when they find it by the book shelf neither one of them can get to it.

Solution/resolution:
They finally agree on helping each other to recover the lost tooth and in the end they share it with each other.

Author’s purpose:  Entertain.

Tone/mood: Happy and amused. 


I love how little one's project turned out, and he was very happy about it. He was actually the only one in his classroom to work on the reading fair project.  He was awarded a certificate, and a free meal to a fancy restaurant.  


This book is very special to me because I grew up finding coins under my pillow from "el ratoncito"; and now our child will have the best of both cultures.

I love how the author brought together two totally different cultures, and traditions into a beautiful children's story book. Both the Tooth Fairy, and El Ratón Pérez are claiming Miguelito's tooth; and the author does an excellent job in conveying a message of acceptance through their differences and similarities.  The illustrations are beautiful, and cartoonish which makes it fun to look at; and the story line although in English has words in Spanish as well.

I would highly recommend this book as a multicultural addition to any home library.