2010 Nominee: I Lost My Tooth in Africa

Amina has a wiggly tooth! More than anything, she hopes it will come out while she's visiting her family in Mali, West Africa. That way, she can put her tooth under a gourd, and the African tooth fairy will exchange it for a chicken! Will Amina lose her tooth before it's time to return to America?

Author: Penda Diakite

• .No photo or biography, wrote book with her father, the illustrator.

Illustrator: Baba Wague Diakite

• Biography and Photo

Book Activities

• Discussion questions:  Can you find Africa and Mali on the globe? Have you lost a tooth? What did you do with your lost tooth? Did you get a gift from the tooth fairy? Would you like to get a chicken from the tooth fairy?
  
• Reading/oral language: Using the glossary on last page of book, pronounce the Mali words. Do you know words in any other language. Find some words from other languages that have been adopted into English.
• Writing: Write a story about when you lost a tooth; write about things you like to do with your grandparents
  
• Math: Look what the Fairy Dropped game about recognizing coins (link below) Graph the number of teeth lost by the members of the class.
  
• Science: Watch chickens hatch with Chickscope (link below) Study teeth, dental care.
• Social Studies: Geography lesson plan - Trekking to Timbuktu  (may need to be modify a little for K-3; link below)
• Cooking/Snack: Recipe for Aunt Kadja's Djaba Dki on last page of book or a recipe for a tooth necklace (see link below)
  
• Art/Drama: Listen to African music and draw a picture. (see A Musical & Artistic Experience link below)
• Music/Movement: Listen to African music and draw a picture (see A Musical & Artistic Experience link below)
• Technology integration: Have students do an Internet search to find 5 interesting facts about Africa. (see African Scavenger Hunt link below)
  

Related Books

• By Baba Wague Diakite:
• The Hatseller and the Monkeys
• The Hunterman and the Crocodile
• The Magic Gourd
• Mee-An and the Magic Serpent
• Other related books:
  What Do Fairies Do With All These Teeth? by Michel Luppens
  Clifford's Loose Tooth by Wendy Cheyette Lewison
• Arthur's Loose Tooth by Lillian Hoban
• Arthur's tooth by Marc Brown
• Tabitha's Terrifically Tough Tooth by Charlotte Middleton
• Throw your tooth on the roof : tooth traditions from around the world by Selby Beeler

Websites

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2010 Nominee Resources