Toothless Terry

What frog doesn't long for a nice set of choppers? Terry is content catching flies while sitting on his lily pad, but there's one thing the other pond animals have that he longs for: teeth. One night, Terry decides to inspect a tent in a nearby field. Never mind the human camper asleep inside: Terry finds a jar containing a pair of false teeth ("I'll just borrow these for a while"). The next morning, Terry pops the dentures into his mouth, and the pond frogs admire his new look. Unfortunately, the purloined pearly whites are so large that Terry can't talk while he's wearing them, and they prevent him from using his tongue to catch flies. The problems mount, so Terry decides to remove his falsies.but they're stuck! Happily, Terry's froggy friends accidentally find a way to unstick them. Parkin's tale has all the right elements to set up some great sight gags revolving around Terry's false teeth, which make him look as though his mouth is a flat-screen TV playing the Dental Channel. The book's message is unnecessarily spelled out (Terry "realized he was perfect just the way he was") but his other realization-that it's wrong to steal other people's belongings-is wittily relayed in a closing image that requires only two words. A funny story about the importance of being oneself and the surprising power of an all-frog group hug. * Kirkus Reviews *