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Summary
Summary
It's class photo day, and Peter has a looth tooth. If he loses the tooth, his smile will have a hole in it, just like in last year's picture. Then again, he'll get money from the tooth fairy, which would help him buy a new basketball!
Author Notes
Ezra Jack Keats was born Jacob Ezra Katz in Brooklyn, New York on March 11, 1916. He was a mural painter for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for three years before taking a job as a comic book illustrator. During World War II, he joined the United States Air Corp and was a camouflage pattern designer. After the war, he changed his name to make his Jewish heritage less noticeable.
He wrote and/or illustrated more than 85 children's books. The first book he illustrated was Jubilant for Sure by Elizabeth Hubbard Lansing, which was published in 1954. The first book he wrote was My Dog is Lost, which was published in 1960. His other works include Pet Show and The Snowy Day, which won a Caldecott Medal in 1963. He was also awarded the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for outstanding contributions in the field of children's literature in 1980. He died of a heart attack on May 6, 1983.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Ezra Jack Keats's characters come together at the bus stop on picture day, and Peter hopes his loose tooth will stay intact until the photo is snapped. His friends, Amy, Archie, and Lily, offer support and carry the story forward with believable, easy-to-read dialogue. Their round of pickup basketball may not accurately reflect the abilities of children this age, but emerging readers will enjoy following the game, which brings the narrative to a satisfying end despite the fact that Peter's tooth falls out. Eitzen's distinguished, double-page illustrations feature well-scrubbed characters with endearing faces; they are crisply imposed on cityscapes that reflect the look and colors of Keats's mixed-media illustrations. A story that celebrates friendship, basketball, and the legacy of the author/illustrator.-Laura Scott, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
In [cf2]Clubhouse,[cf1] with donated wood and borrowed nails and hammer, Peter and friends get everything they need for a clubhouse, if not a story. In [cf2]Loose Tooth,[cf1] Peter loses his during a confusingly narrated basketball pickup game. These Ezra Jack Keats rip-offs are vaguely plotted and laboriously paced. The characters are pleasantly illustrated, but they're interchangeable and anonymously voiced. [Review covers these Viking Easy-to-Read titles: [cf2]The Clubhouse[cf1] and [cf2]Loose Tooth[cf1].] From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The questionable co-optation of cherished characters from classic children's literature continues, exemplified by this third entry by Suen and Eitzen in the Peter's Neighborhood series (Willie's Birthday, 2001, etc.). Peter, hero of the beloved Ezra Jack Keats classics The Snowy Day and Peter's Chair, is in third or fourth grade now, and he has a couple of mild problems. He wants his loose tooth to stay connected until school-picture day is over, and he wants a new basketball, but hasn't saved enough money to cover the cost. Peter and his friends from various Keats stories (Amy, Archie, and Lily) play a game of pick-up basketball on the playground with four other kids, and Peter's tooth falls out after he trips and falls. He cheerfully decides to "say cheese" for his school picture, knowing that he'll have enough money to buy a basketball after a visit from the tooth fairy. The sturdy but unexceptionable storyline lacks the flair of original work by Keats, and Eitzen's imitative illustrations are only a pale echo of Keatsian genius. Still, the third title in a series implies a certain level of success, so the series may well continue as Peter and his friends grow up. (Imagine the YA titles to follow: A Letter to Peter from Amy, Dreams in Apt. 3, and after Peter and Amy settle down together to raise a family, Peter's Rocking Chair.) (Easy reader. 5-8)
Booklist Review
Reviewed with Anastasia Suen and Ezra Jack Keats' The Clubhouse. Gr. K-2. Like Willie's Birthday(2001) andHamster Chase(2001), these books in the Viking Easy-To-Read series are based on the characters created by the late Ezra Jack Keats, and the setting is Peter's multiracial, inner-city neighborhood. In The ClubhousePeter and his friends find a pile of old wood in a vacant lot, and, with the help of a kind store owner, they build a place to play. As in many of Keats' picture books, a game is at the center of Loose Tooth.Peter is trying to hold on to his loose tooth so that he won't have a hole in his smile for the school photo. He loses it in a game of basketball against the tough kids from Room 3, but he still finds good reason to smile. The combination of the wild action on the court and the personal story makes this a winner. In both books bright, active pictures, which blend watercolor with collage in Keats' style, will bringbeginning readers into the pages. Hazel Rochman.
