Tallulah the Tooth Fairy CEO

by Tamara Pizzoli, Federico Fabiani (Illustrator)

Overview

Hilarious and smart, Tallulah the Tooth Fairy CEO is a modern take on the classic tooth fairy story by Tamara Pizzoli with illustrations by Federico Fabiani that is perfect for powerful little leaders ready to take on the world—one tooth at a time.

Meet Tallulah. She’s the Tooth Fairy CEO. Tallulah knows practically everything about being a tooth fairy. How to collect teeth. Dispense money. Train other fairies. And it’s all in the Teeth Titans Incorporated Employee Manual.

But when something happens that’s not covered in the manual, what's a fairy to do?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466899735
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	07/30/2019
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dr. Tamara Pizzoli is an African American educator born in Texas. For the past few years, she has run a boutique publishing house known as The English School House from Rome, Italy, where she lives with her four young children.

Federico Fabiani is a self-taught illustrator and graphic designer with a background in architecture. He was born and raised in sunny Rome, where he now runs Sundog Studio, a small visual design office. Tallulah the Tooth Fairy CEO is his first illustrated book.

Federico Fabiani is a self-taught illustrator and graphic designer with a background in architecture. He was born and raised in sunny Rome, where he now runs Sundog Studio, a small visual design office. Tallulah the Tooth Fairy CEO is his first illustrated book.

Editorial Reviews

05/20/2019

Giving the tooth fairy tongue-in-cheek professional legitimacy, Pizzoli (who has published numerous African folktales with her boutique company, The English Schoolhouse) offers a modish tale about Tallulah, founder and CEO of Teeth Titans Inc., for whom “looking after children’s pearly whites” is more than just a job—“it is her career.” Sporting a purple-hued Afro and jewelry fashioned from teeth, the posh business mogul wisely balances her time: various mornings are spent chatting with her therapist, visiting teeth-centric museum exhibits, and practicing yoga, while afternoons are reserved for recruiting and training tooth-fairy employees. These sophisticated pastimes are less kid than adult targeted, until Tallulah, wearing night-vision glasses, begins her tooth-collecting rounds. What does the entrepreneur do when she hits an unprecedented snag in the form of a boy who has lost his lost tooth? She calls an emergency meeting with her tooth fairy board of directors, of course. Building on the narrative’s playful satire, Fabiani’s stylized matte cartoons incorporate some quirky flourishes: Tallulah entertains a tooth fairy–in-training at a North Pole lounge, where an elf tends bar. A fun flight of fancy featuring an engagingly eccentric heroine. Ages 4–8. (July)

Publishers Weekly

An Amazon Best Book of the Year

An Amazon Prime Box Pick

The Cut Best Children's Book for Uncertain Times

"Tallulah, CEO of Teeth Titans Inc., gives readers a sneak peek into her glamorous life...Details in both Pizzoli's text (Tallulah's also the founder of the National Association for the Appreciation and Care of Primary Teeth, or NAACP-T) and Fabiani's matte illustrations (a series of enormous, Warhol-like prints of Tallulah adorns her walls) will set adult readers chuckling. Funny and provocative." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Tallulah (Tooth Fairy, CEO) is Fashion-Week chic . . . When she encounters a snag in her usual tooth-retrieval routine, her thoughtful solution will only make readers love her more. This is a must- have for all collections. Children and adults alike will fall in love with this hilarious picture book." —Booklist, starred review

"It’s refreshing to see a woman of color not only represented as a classic fantasy figure, as they are often depicted exclusively as white, but also as a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur . . . Illustrations are smooth and give a sleek modern feel to the piece. A fun, solid addition to contemporary fairy tale collections." –School Library Journal

From the Publisher

07/01/2019

K-Gr 2—Tallulah isn't your normal tooth fairy; she's the CEO of all the tooth fairies! With her cool hand at the helm of her organization, everything runs smoothly until a child loses a tooth meant for retrieval, and Tallulah must find a solution. The first half focuses on her jet-setting persona and her weekly routine, which includes going to art museums and getting drinks with Mrs. Claus, while the second half reads more like a traditional picture book. While it's refreshing to see a woman of color not only represented as a classic fantasy figure, as they are often depicted exclusively as white, but also as a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur, arguably the text could have focused more on the plot and less on establishing the character. Still, parents will smirk at the gentle jabs to corporate culture that the book references. Illustrations are smooth and give a sleek modern feel to the piece, with images of teeth hidden throughout. VERDICT A fun, solid addition to contemporary fairy tale collections.—Peter Blenski, Hartland Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

★ 2019-04-14
A tooth-fairy mogul wrote the manual, but even the expert can be caught off guard.

Tallulah, CEO of Teeth Titans Inc., gives readers a sneak peek into her glamorous life. The wry narrative mimics the tone of many an inspirational biography, informing readers that Tallulah works hard to strike "a healthy balance between the three Ps: passion, purpose, and what pays." From yoga to museum visits, Tallulah seems to have a full schedule, but she still makes time to hire and train tooth fairies for the entire world. Expert Tallulah has all the answers—or so she thinks until the night she gets a surprise from a little boy. Ballard has lost his tooth—literally—and leaves an explanatory note under his pillow in place of the missing item. This triggers an emergency board meeting that features remarkably realistic dialogue. Tom, a white man and the only board member who is not a woman of color, wears an #AllFairiesMatter T-shirt; his off-topic complaint about the lack of diversity makes an opening for important conversations with young readers. Tallulah is black and sports a voluminous purple Afro; Tom is the sole white character. Details in both Pizzoli's text (Tallulah's also the founder of the National Association for the Appreciation and Care of Primary Teeth, or NAACP-T) and Fabiani's matte illustrations (a series of enormous, Warhol-like prints of Tallulah adorns her walls) will set adult readers chuckling.

Funny and provocative. (Picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews