The Great Tooth Robbery: A Review of Airmail to the Moon By Tom Birdseye

Megan Farnsworth ID# 991636494 5 August 2011 CIMT 512 Patterson Indiana State University

Farnsworth CIMT 512 2

The Great Tooth Robbery

By Megan Farnsworth

Airmail to the Moon

Birdseye, Tom. Airmail to the Moon. New York: Holiday House, 1988. Illustrated by Stephen Gammell. 32 pp . $16.95 (Ages 5-8)

She wakes up, and her most-prized possession is missing. Whats a girl to do? Get even, thats what. This is the dilemma facing Ora Mae Cotton, nicknamed Oreo just like the sweet cookie I am, in the picture book Airmail to the Moon. Ora Maes tooth has been stolen, and she is ready to pummel the thief, even if it is one of her relatives.

The story is set in fictional Crabapple Orchard. The illustrations help the reader visualize the rural atmosphere, but they also perpetuate stereotypes about rural people. Ora Mae Cotton and her family are portrayed as typical hillbillies. Ora Mae is a tomboy who wears overalls. Her father, Dadaw, is outside shaving by a tree in his boxer shorts. Mama is wearing a headscarf in a root cellar full of rutabagas. Their house and other farm buildings are dilapidated. Gammells illustrations emphasize the Cotton familys poverty; however, the drawings of the setting and characters are not enough to discourage librarians from purchasing this book.

School-age children can relate to Ora Mae because she is preoccupied with her loose tooth. When it finally plops out onto her plate of spaghetti, she hurries to bed dreaming of the money she will receive and the things she will buy. Her excitement turns to anger in the morning when she discovers that her valuable tooth has been stolen. Ora Mae sets out on her quest to find the sticky-fingered family member who stole her tooth and her dreams of wealth and possessions.

Farnsworth CIMT 512 3 Birdseyes use of descriptive language makes this an ideal story to be read aloud. Readers can imagine the tricks that Ora Maes brother may have pulled on her when she describes him being as ornery as a bull in a beehive. Readers can relate to Ora Mae when Dadaw tells her not to milk the cow when shes asleep which she explains is Crabapple Orchard language for keeping quiet until you are sure about the things that you are saying. Birdseyes figurative language is best on display when Ora Mae clenches her fist and proclaims that she will catch the crook. She vows, And when I catch em, Im gonna open up a can of gotcha and send em airmail to the moon.

Young children will relate to this book because of the realistic sibling relationships. Most children, at one time or another, have accused a sibling or good friend of taking something that didnt belong to them. They almost always place the blame on someone else. There is no possible way that they could have misplaced their treasured item; someone must have stolen it. Children will enjoy the ending when a sobbing Ora Mae sticks her hands deep into her pockets to discover the missing tooth! The book ends with a humble motor-mouth Ora Mae confessing that she is as embarrassed as a zebra without stripes to discover that her tooth was in the pocket of her overalls the entire time.

This humorous story would appeal to children in primary grades who are losing their own baby teeth and awaiting a visit from the tooth fairy. It would be an appropriate addition to the childrens section of a school or public library. Airmail to the Moon would be an excellent picture book to be read aloud at school or during a summer reading program at a public library.