The Beast With a Thousand Teeth - Hardcover

Jones, Terry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0872263746 ISBN 13: 9780872263741

Publisher: Peter Bedrick Books, 1993

Synopsis

The leading British children's author and founding member of Monty Python's Flying Circus presents a funny fairy tale, perfect for reading out loud, complete with a toothy beast who terrorizes the town and surprises Little Sam on his pastry deliveries.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

K-Gr 3-A terrifying monster who eats people and a baker's son who subdues him are the stars of this scary/funny original fairy tale. The beast, who has four eyes and six legs as well as a thousand teeth, is a dragonlike creature who comes across Sam carrying a plateful of cakes on a deserted street one night. Jones, who has a real storyteller's voice, knows how to create and sustain suspense-``And the beast got nearer and nearer until it was right on top of him, and it bent down and its terrible jaws went SNACK! and it gobbled up the tray of cakes, and then it turned on Sam.'' The boy tempts the beast with more cakes, which it likes so much that it forgets about eating people. And when it gets a terrible toothache from all the sweets it has eaten, Sam pulls its teeth and then collects the reward for ridding the kingdom of the menacing creature. The plot is familiar, yet fresh, and Foreman's artfully done watercolors easily go from the nightmarish to the humorous. Originally published in Terry Jones' Fairy Tales (Puffin, 1986), this picture book will be a read-aloud favorite.-Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

These two briskly told ``20th Century Fairy Tales'' have the trappings of traditional forays into fairyland, but an unmistakable glee beneath the deadpan tones of the narrative warns that all is not as it seems. A herring swims around the world and returns home smug in his new-found superiority. All it takes, however, is a fishing trawler's well-aimed net to reduce him to a fish-and-chips supper. A king offers 100 bags of gold to anyone who can rid the town of a terrifying, toothy monster. When the baker's son discovers the creature's love of pink icing, the reward is only a toothache and a pair of pliers away. Foreman's art, more expressive here than in The Long Weekend (reviewed above), has a controlled hilarity, especially apparent in facial expressions--of humans, fish and beasts alike. Dreamy watercolors, with mottled washes highlighted in shimmering violets and aquas, radiate a chimerical quality. First published in a fairy tale collection, the stories work well as picture books. Foreman and Jones are an excellent match. Ages 5-up.

Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Bedrick Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0872263746
• ISBN 13: 9780872263741
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 20
• Illustrator: Foreman Michael