Trouble on the T-Ball Team
PreSchool-Grade 2.  This picture book centers around a T-ball team on which everyone has "lost one" except for the narrator. Therein lies the dilemma?the elusive "one" that has been lost. It turns out to be a tooth. To no surprise, a home run (and subsequent fall over a wayward dog) ensures that the narrator becomes one of the gang. This story struggles to be a mystery and fails at being a consolation book for children with their baby teeth intact. The average-quality watercolors do little to further the narrative; at one point, the illustrations even contradict the text with the narrator suddenly switching from playing offense to defense while scoring the winning home run. For a seven-year-old, losing a tooth is a rite of passage. Not losing a tooth can therefore be somewhat traumatic and create a sense of isolation in a child. Marc Brown's Arthur's Tooth (Little, Brown, 1985) addresses this issue more directly. Bunting's title lacks the superior quality usually associated with her books.?Christy Norris, Valley Cottage Library, NYCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.