The anxious little girl from COUNTDOWN TO KINDERGARTEN is on her way into first grade, and now she has a truly terrifying problem. A sophisticated second grader on the bus considerately confides that the first grade teacher is actually a 300-year-old monster from another planet with a purple tongue who steals baby teeth from her students. The alien teacher brazenly keeps the teeth right on her desk in her devilish treat box. This is bad news indeed, since our heroine has a loose tooth and consequently must keep her mouth shut as tightly as she can at all times, even when she knows the answer to a question in class. Witty details keep adult readers interested, such as a school play poster for Marathon Man that mentions that it's a chilling tale of suspense and toothaches. The moral, of course, is not to believe everything you hear, no matter how obviously sensible it may seem. New Yorker Magazine illustrator Harry Bliss masterfully captures the little girl's understandably fearful expressions with his colorful ink and watercolor pictures. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.