The Amazing and True Story of Tooth Mouse PÃ rez

Does every country have a Tooth Fairy? Well, in Spain and other Spanish- speaking countries, it happens to be a Tooth Mouse, and this is his story!

★ A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2023 ★ A 2024 USBBY Outstanding International Book ★

Long ago, throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the Tooth Mouse brought children their permanent teeth, strong and straight as a mouse’s. Tracing the Tooth Mouse’s beginnings through to his descendants, this book artfully weaves the Tooth Mouse’s changing habits as the world industrializes, with the growing independence of the child, as teeth fall out and the child learns to care for themselves. 

It’s also a playful, thought-provoking history of our changing world―as even Tooth Mice and children must adapt their customs when faced with the culture-shifting forces of urbanization, migration, and capitalism...

Just remember, magic can always be recovered, and the real gift in losing baby teeth is growing up!

Ana Cristina Herreros, a philologist and folklore specialist, combines her work as an editor with her day job as a professional storyteller, performing under the name Ana Griott since 1992. In addition to running her own publishing house, Libros de las Malas Compañías, she has written several books about folktales, including The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It (a New York Times Best Children's Book of 2021), which is also illustrated by Violeta Lópiz.

Violeta Lópiz is a Spanish illustrator currently living in Peru. She has illustrated numerous books, including three with Enchanted Lion: The Forest (a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2018), The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It (a New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2021), and At the Drop of a Cat. She has participated in exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, USA, Japan, Korea, and more. El Cultural, the supplement of El Mundo, considers her one of the top ten names of contemporary Spanish illustration. Her work can be found in books, newspapers, and the thousands of notebooks that she leaves scattered around.

Sara Lissa Paulson learned Spanish in the streets of Sevilla with Antonio Marín Márquez, his bandmates, friends, and family. There, she got her first translation job at age 19 for a local music zine. Her degrees are in Comparative Literature, Spanish, Bilingual Education, and Library Science. She has worked as a children’s librarian in NYC’s alternative elementary and high schools for over 21 years, reading aloud day in and day out, and teaches future librarians of all ages at Queens College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.

Ana Cristina Herreros, a philologist and folklore specialist, combines her work as an editor with her day job as a professional storyteller, performing under the name Ana Griott since 1992. In addition to running her own publishing house, Libros de las Malas Compañías, she has written several books about folktales, including The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It (a New York Times Best Children's Book of 2021), which is also illustrated by Violeta Lópiz.

Violeta Lópiz is a Spanish illustrator currently living in Peru. She has illustrated numerous books, including three with Enchanted Lion: The Forest (a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of 2018), The True Story of a Mouse Who Never Asked for It (a New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2021), and At the Drop of a Cat. She has participated in exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey, USA, Japan, Korea, and more. El Cultural, the supplement of El Mundo, considers her one of the top ten names of contemporary Spanish illustration. Her work can be found in books, newspapers, and the thousands of notebooks that she leaves scattered around.

Sara Lissa Paulson learned Spanish in the streets of Sevilla with Antonio Marín Márquez, his bandmates, friends, and family. There, she got her first translation job at age 19 for a local music zine. Her degrees are in Comparative Literature, Spanish, Bilingual Education, and Library Science. She has worked as a children’s librarian in NYC’s alternative elementary and high schools for over 21 years, reading aloud day in and day out, and teaches future librarians of all ages at Queens College’s Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.