Jennifer Hansen Rolli has some fun illustrations in her and Erin Danielle Russell’s How to Trick the Tooth Fairy. However, the actual story of playing tricks on people is not my thing. Most of the tricks that Kaylee plays (such as using dog toothpaste as the creamy center to a chocolate sandwich cookie and putting marbles on the floor in front of the fireplace during Christmas) on her friends and family seem downright mean. But again, I have never been a prankster person. Therefore, when Kaylee tries to prank the Tooth Fairy, and Ms Tooth Fairy herself is a bigger prankster than even Kaylee, you know the prank war has started and will get out of hand. And things get topsy-turvy terribly quickly.
Yet, Rolli’s illustrations, despite illustrating the literal mess fairy and girl create, are sweet. They show the emotions and the chaos in perfectly toned illustrations. They accent the tone of the story: everything seems sweet but watch out for mischievous little girls and the hose to the sink. If you have a Kaylee in your life, they most likely will enjoy seeing themselves on the page.
The (again, literal) mess at the end could be considered endearing or not depending on your take on pranks or if you liked Kaylee’s and the Tooth Fairies pranks. However, the nice surprise is that both of our said pranksters do clean up after themselves. This not leaving the mess for someone else (usually a parent) or just leaving it, as most refreshing.