Abra Cadabra and the Tooth Witch

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

This Canadian reissue of The Tooth Witch (1985) is packaged with a
shimmery moon-shaped tooth holder. Nurit Karlin, whose cartoons have
appeared in The New Yorker, Time, and other publications, has answered
the recurrent questions of who is the tooth fairy and what does she do
with all those teeth? According to this story, the original tooth
collector was a grumpy old witch who, after 600 years, was bored with
her job. The other witches assign her an assistant, Abra Cadabra, who is
unhappy about taking teeth without giving something back, and so she
sneaks gifts to the sleeping children. When the old witch later takes a
vacation, Abra decides to fling the collected pearly whites into the
night sky, transforming them into stars. She herself is transformed into
the Tooth Fairy, complete with white gown and wings, while her
broomstick becomes a wand.

Karlin’s own uncluttered and cartoonlike illustrations are a perfect
match to her simple text. The witches are traditionally attired in black
hats and gowns, but as Abra Cadabra performs her good deeds, her gown
gradually lightens, going through various shades of grey before the
final conversion to white. It’s a pity that the cover depicts a tooth
fairy, thereby spoiling the surprise. In all, though, a pleasant bedtime
book for preschoolers. Recommended.