Official Review: Blue in the tooth, by Esther Loftus Gough

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CataclysmicKnight
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Official Review: Blue in the tooth, by Esther Loftus Gough

Post by CataclysmicKnight »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Blue in the tooth," by Esther Loftus Gough.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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Please note: This is a review of the Audible version of this book only, NOT the physical book.

We all have stories about tooth issues. Whether it's dental issues of our own or a family member or friend who didn't brush their teeth enough, didn't floss, didn't visit the doctor every 6 months or just ate too many sweets, it seems impossible for anyone to get through life without knowing someone who works as a living example of the importance of tooth care. Despite this, many of us (myself included) somehow miss the important message and end up with issues of our own anyway.

Blue in the Tooth: Teeth Hygiene with a Colour Therapy Twist! by Esther Loftus Gough is an attempt to break that vicious cycle. It even comes with its own tale of horror: Johnny's mother tells him that his Auntie Bertie had all of her teeth fall out! Blue in the Tooth is about Blue, a baby canine tooth, and also features Pearl (a molar) and Onyx (an incisor) who are on either side of him. The story begins with Johnny (the owner of these and other teeth) brushing his teeth and the narrator explaining that he does it at least twice a day. But then he stops, and at first Blue is happy that the "hygenic humdrum" is over, but as the days go by Johnny continues neglecting his tooth care and eating sweets. Blue begins to ache, but in the end his mom forces him to brush again and Blue suddenly feels all better!

As I mentioned, this review is focused entirely on the Audible version of this book. I didn't get a look at the story, which appears to be a children's picture book. The Audible file doesn't include an eBook companion, which is a shame as I'm assuming the story is more effective with the images. The cover was certainly cute, but I feel that the "Colour Therapy" portion of the book would've been better shown than merely told. As it is, I assuming the Colour Therapy was from the descriptions of things - Blue is a tooth that feels blue when he isn't brushed after a while, Pearl is a wonderful color for a good tooth and Onyx is a "proud upright incisor". This last one threw me off a bit though - while Onyx can certainly give an image of an upright tooth, the image isn't a shiny white one, it's a black, rotten one since onyx is typically black. Seeing these images in the book may have cleared things up, but just listening threw me off a bit with my expectations.

The book is narrated by Christel Cowdrey, who has done two other audiobooks (including another audiobook for Esther Loftus Gough about Auntie Bertie!). She has a gentle, fun reading voice with an English accent that sounded very much like having a mother read the book. She uses voices for different characters making it clear who's saying what, and even things that could've been annoying without the images were nicely done (like describing in detail how toothpaste or foods swoosh around in Johnny's mouth and how he "brush brush brush"es). The entire audio is under 8 minutes long, including her narration of the cover and the pages before and after the story itself.

On its own, I have a hard time rating this Audible a perfect score. The writing was wonderful, the narration was great and there were no grammatical errors to speak of as it was an audio story. On the down side, I really felt like the story was missing out by not having a companion version to look at. I also found the idea of Blue becoming immediately less achy after a single brushing a little off, as it makes it sound like one can go days without brushing and then just brush when their teeth ache. I almost definitely give this a perfect 4 and recommend it with the companion, assuming the art inside remained as nice as the art on the cover and the text isn't difficult to read, but without a companion my rating is 3 out of 4 stars. If you want to teach your kids about the importance of brushing their teeth and they can focus on audio alone I'd recommend this, but otherwise I'd say go for the physical version (which, again, I haven't seen) or get both separately if you can.

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revna01
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Post by revna01 »

This sounds like a fun lesson in good dental hygiene. Everything is more fun for kids when they can imagine little friends and characters helping them do a dreaded task (like brushing teeth!) It's unfortunate there was no visual to go along with the recording. Thanks for a great review!
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Mr Benji
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Post by Mr Benji »

Thanks for the review.
It seems the book concerns everyone because of the subject matter: Tooth.
It's great, you were able to write a review from the audio version only.
Books are lovely.
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Post by MsTri »

I've certainly had my fill(ings) of tooth drama, including having six (four or them wisdoms) pulled, so this sounds like something I could have used years ago, *lol*. I'm also intrigued that it's an audiobook, as I do vocal work on Fiverr and have done a few audio-books and I always wonder how the listeners enjoy them. With that being said, it really is a shame that it didn't come with a companion read-a-long book, whether e-book or physical. With children's books, the pix are such a huge part of them that I can't imagine missing out on that aspect. I'm glad you were able to mostly enjoy the story and give a thorough review despite that. If I get it, I'll definitely need a .pdf at the least, though.
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Post by cpru68 »

Not easy to just listen to a book to review. For kids, I would think both audio and visual is necessary. I know things can be exaggerated in children’s books, but brushing a tooth one time isn’t going to repair weeks of damage, so your assessment there is good. I don’t like onyx being used either as a color. That is black and would represent decay. I think the author has the right idea but needs to change things a bit to make it more reader friendly.
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Post by ProGamer12 »

It’s okay but a bit difficult to learn for children ok for 7 year olds also it has learning
For kids their parents can help them understand and learn overall for kids

3.5/5
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Post by reeseryann »

When I read the story it seemed to be great! My mother is a hygienist and I know that her office would love to have this book. The only thing that threw me off was the cover. It’s really doesn’t go along with the story. Since the name of the canine is blue tooth and that’s the story name the cover should have an image of inside of the boys mouth with all the other teeth. Besides that I think this is a wonderful book
Sincerely, Reese.
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Post by AbbyGNelson »

Thanks for your review! Sounds like an interesting story :) I wrote a review of an Auntie Bertie story. Would you mind leaving a comment on my review? viewforum.php?f=43&sid=53057760a6d2a95483d874937047112d
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