George Washington's Teeth - Hardcover

Chandra, Deborah; Comora, Madeleine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374325340 ISBN 13: 9780374325343

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2003

Synopsis

A tongue-in-cheek dental history of our first President

"Poor George had two teeth in his mouth
The day the votes came in.
The people had a President,
But one afraid to grin."

From battling toothaches while fighting the British, to having rotten teeth removed by his dentists, the Father of His Country suffered all his life with tooth problems. Yet, contrary to popular belief, he never had a set of wooden teeth. Starting at the age of twenty-four, George Washington lost on average a tooth a year, and by the time he was elected President, he had only two left! In this reverentially funny tale written in verse and based on Washington’s letters, diaries, and other historical records, readers will find out what really happened as they follow the trail of lost teeth to complete tooflessness.

Illustrated in watercolors with subtle humor by Brock Cole, the main story is followed by a four-page time line featuring reproduced period portraits of Washington.

 

George Washington's Teeth is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Chandra’s previous children’s books include A Is for Amos, which Publishers Weekly called “a charmer” in a starred review. She lives in Altadena, California.

Madeleine Comora is an author and poet who lives in Glendale, California.

Brock Cole is the author and/or illustrator of many books, including the picture books Buttons, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book, and Larky Mavis. He lives in Buffalo, New York.

Reviews

In a clever approach to history, Chandra and Comora string together spry stanzas describing the dental difficulties that plagued George Washington. Rhyming verse explains how the general's rotten teeth gradually fall out during the Revolutionary War: "George crossed the icy Delaware/ With nine teeth in his mouth./ In that cold and pitchy dark,/ Two more teeth came out!" Cole complements this verse by rendering a sly watercolor twist on Emanuel Leutze's famous painting George Washington Crossing the Delaware, in a full-spread treatment: Washington still stands in quiet dignity, but the boatmen are grinning. By the time Washington is elected president, just two teeth remain in his mouth. Kids will love the details, such as the way Washington uses a pair of his molars to fashion a mold from which the dentist makes a set of dentures (these are carved from hippopotamus ivory, and even shown, in a photograph in the afterword). Infusing his bustling watercolor vignettes with comic hyperbole, Cole easily keeps pace with the lighthearted narrative. One especially funny image shows the president sprawled on the floor, legs in the air, after viewing a newly painted portrait ("George stood up to have a look-/ He fell back on his fanny./ `It doesn't look like me!' he roared./ `It looks like Martha's granny!' "). An annotated timeline at the end includes quotes from the leader's letters and diaries chronicling his relentless efforts to hide his dental problems and the extent to which they caused him chronic pain and embarrassment. A highly palatable historical morsel. All ages.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

*Starred Review* K-Gr. 3. Second only to kids' curiosity about George Washington and the cherry tree may be their interest in his teeth. Did the prez wear wooden dentures? Chandra and Comora set the record straight with wit, verve, and a generous amount of sympathy for poor Washington and his dental woes. Unfurling smoothly against a backdrop of Washington's career as soldier and president, the tale goes forward in sprightly, read-aloud rhyme that never falters: "Poor George has two teeth in his mouth / The day the votes came in. / The people had a President /But one afraid to grin." And illustrator Cole is at his absolute best here, totally at ease with human gesture and expression. Each spread is a tableaulike scene (or scenes) filled with costumed characters busily engaged in humorously visualizing the actual history. The color palette and energy of the art harks back to Cole's Buttons (1999), but there's much more detail and movement in these pictures, which work well as amusing preparation for the more sedately illustrated, annotated time line of George's dental decay that precedes a full roundup of historical sources the authors used in telling the tale. This is history for youngsters that will stick; it's wild and fun and factual, without a trace of mockery. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374325340
• ISBN 13: 9780374325343
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Cole Brock
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40