Uncle Farley's False Teeth

Description

32 pages
$5.95
ISBN 1-55037-542-3
DDC jC813'.54

Author

Publisher

Year

1998

Contributor

Illustrations by Michael Martchenko
Reviewed by Steve Pitt

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Review

Captain Ahab had his great white whale. D’Arcy has a fabulous fish
with a freckled fin. While her Uncle Farley enjoys his afternoon nap,
D’Arcy borrows his false teeth and goes down to the wharf to show her
friends. The exhibition is going well until Uncle Farley’s teeth slip
out of her hands. As luck would have it, the dentures land in the mouth
of a huge fish with a freckled fin and a mind of its own. When the fish
refuses to give back the teeth, D’Arcy calls in a fisherman, a
dentist, a cop, and even the town mayor. Her Uncle Farley is due to wake
up in 13 minutes. If little D’Arcy cannot get those teeth back from
the toothy tuna, she knows she will be in big trouble.

Alice Walsh has a deft touch with slapstick prose. Her narrative builds
wave by wave. Each attempt to retrieve Farley’s teeth takes the reader
just a little bit higher and then crashes down in yet another improbable
disaster. Comedic touches by veteran illustrator Michael Martchenko add
many extra giggles per page. Highly recommended.

Citation

Walsh, Alice., “Uncle Farley's False Teeth,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed December 4, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/19362.