The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy
By Gregory Maguire
This book is two stories in one. The first is a (possibly) post-apocalyptic 'real' world tale of a man and his young cousins. It's serious and dire, and serves as a stark contrast to the main story, a fantasy tale about an orphaned tooth fairy named What-the-Dickens. As this second story is being told to the children in the first tale, it's much lighter and clearly has a much younger target audience.
Although it deals with some pretty serious stuff (death, loneliness) it manages to do so without dragging the reader down, keeping it light-hearted and amusing.
Both tales are left with no definite conclusion, leaving you to wonder, or, better yet, imagine your own endings. Utterly different to Maguire's Wicked, this book is loosely structured, enchanting and sweet. It's easy to imagine this one as an animated movie.
My rating: 4 / 5
