Arthur's Tooth (book)

Arthur's Tooth is the 10th book in the Arthur Adventure series. It was written and illustrated by Marc Brown, and published by Little, Brown and Company on September 30, 1985. It became adapted into the TV series as the episode with the same name.

Plot
At home, Arthur feels a loose tooth and starts wiggling it. The next day, in school, Francine's tooth falls out. Mr. Marco asks how many kids in the class have lost a tooth, and everybody raises their hands except Arthur. The next day, D.W. teases Arthur, saying that "before you [Arthur] know it, all your teeth will fall out and you can get false teeth like Grandma Thora." Arthur then asks his father to make steak, corn on the cob, and peanut brittle for dinner.

The next day, Muffy brings in a jar of her teeth for show-and-tell. She explains that she got two dollars for each one, and she's saving her money. Later, the class watches a movie called Nasty Mr. Tooth Decay, and the narrator explains that everyone begins to lose their baby teeth between ages four and seven. Francine shouts, "Everyone except Arthur!" and the class laughs. At lunch, Francine shows that she can drink through her mouth without a straw, due to losing her tooth.

Arthur's friends try to help him lose his tooth. Buster gives him carrots for lunch, The Brain invents a tooth-removing machine, Sue Ellen shows Arthur that he can put raisins in his mouth to make it look like his teeth are missing, and Binky tries to punch it out.

Arthur wakes up early the next day to show his parents that his tooth is getting looser. His mother brings him to the dentist, where Dr. Sozio explains that everyone loses their teeth at a different age, and he lost his when he was eight.

During recess, Francine plays the "tooth fairy" game that's only for people with lost teeth. She starts twirling around, then hits Arthur. Arthur thanks Francine, saying that "it might just be the nicest thing you've ever done for me." He turns around, revealing that Francine caused him to loose a tooth.

Trivia

 * While brushing his teeth, Arthur holds his toothbrush upside-down.
 * The spelling words on Mr. Marco's blackboard include references to earlier Arthur books: "trick," "Santa," "eyes," "camp," "nose," and "teacher" and "trouble" consecutively.
 * One page misspells "practiced" as "practised."