Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies by William Joyce

In case you haven’t been scoring at home, I picked up The Guardians series (in a box set actually) because I liked the picture books that inspired them and wanted to be prepared for the movie. Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies is the third book (following Nicholas St. North and E. Aster Bunnymund).

Beware a tooth fairy queen scorned in this, the third chapter book of Academy-Award winner William Joyce’s The Guardians series. There’s a lot more to this tooth-swiping sprite than meets the eye!

Now that the back story of Nicholas St. North has been told, and the mysteries of E. Aster Bunnymund have been revealed, we can permit you to meet one of the most riveting, mysterious Guardians of all time: the Tooth Fairy.

Do you want in on a few of her secrets? Well—she can spin herself into a multitude of selves, all depending on nightly teeth-placed-under-pillows rates. And her diminutive size is not at all indicative of how fierce a warrior she can be—Pitch, the Nightmare King, that nefarious villain and the Guardians’ nemesis, who loathes all things good, has no idea what he’s up against. And be forewarned: If you try to stay up to spy on her nocturnal pursuits, there’ll be Spell to pay.

We present to you Her Serene Royal Highness, Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairies, The third Guardian.

Not surprisingly, this volume is much like the others. Full of imaginative adventures and characters, with creative wordplay and mythology and a sense of humor (often with tongue firmly in cheek).

I really like the central character of Toothiana – she is a little more complex, and even a little darker at times, that the first two central characters and her backstory is very creative.

Like the others, this is a simple story with lots of action and not a great deal of depth. The tension, however, is ratcheted up a bit as Katherine and Pitch’s interaction expands. Each time the Guardians seem to defeat Pitch the tension and drama escalate.  I assume that it will take all of the Guardians to finally defeat him.  I have enjoyed the adventure so far and plan to read the series out-loud to my kids (Ages 5 and 7).  It will be interesting to see where Joyce ultimately takes the series and how he wraps it all up.

 

Kevin Holtsberry
I work in communications and public affairs. I try to squeeze in as much reading as I can while still spending time with my wife and two kids (and cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Michigan Wolverines during football season).

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