The Bear's Toothache

I read to children weekly at Border's Bookstore and they love this book! It is so much fun to read and the children really get involved in the dilemma the boy has: trying to repair the bear's toothache. The portrayal of Dad is hilarious and all too familiar to parents. It is a delightful book your child will not soon forget!

We accompanied Juancho, our two and a half year old kid, to his dentist last week and we chanced upon this great children's book by David M. McPhail aptly titled, "The Bear's Toothache" on the dentist's book shelf. The book, richly illustrated by the author, is about a boy who cannot not go to sleep. He finds a bear with a toothache outside his window and lets him in. What follows is a hilarious sequence as the boy proceeds to help the bear remove the aching tooth. They raid the refrigerator and knock over a lamp that sends the father to the room to investigate. Still sleepy, Dad doesn't see the bear hiding under the bed. Finally, the bear jumps off the window ledge with a rope tied around the tooth. The scheme is a success and the bear leaves the tooth to the boy for him to keep under his pillow. What a riot. After reading the book, we laughed aloud with Juancho who by that time was all set for his own adventure with the dentist.

I read this book for the first time when my kids had already gone to bed. I laughed so hard I cried!!! McPhail's illustrations are the best. The story is about a boy who cannot go to sleep, and finds a bear with a toothache moaning outside his window. He invites the bear inside, and proceeds to help the bear remove the aching tooth. The antics include raiding the refrigerator, knocking over a lamp, and finally jumping off the window ledge with a rope tied around the tooth to make it come out. Seeing the illustrations of this bear in a quandry, and the sleepy father who comes to investigate all the noise in the little boy's room, and the bear trying to hide from the Dad, is what makes the book so hilarious. It seems to me just one example of the imagination gone wild when a boy is simply not tired. Enjoy!

This little-known work of McPhail's (one of our favorite authors) has become one of the most frequently read books in our house. The story is simple and lovely: In the middle of the night a little boy hears a bear howling outside his window. The bear's tooth is sore and so the boy sets out to help him, using everything from a pillow and the contents of his refrigerator to his cowboy rope, which works! But the best part is McPhail's illustrations. The boy is so capable and comfortable, even in the middle of the night. At one point, he knocks over his bedroom lamp, which sends his father in to investigate. Rumpled and sleepy, Dad doesn't even see the bear who's trying to hide under the bead. It's a wonderful evocation of a child's own imaginative world, in which parents are there to make sure nothing terrible happens, but stay out of the way of the fun and the learning. My husband and I love this book, even if we appreciate it on a completely different level from our kids (2 1/2 and 5) who just like the idea of a bear with a toothache!