"Ly-Lan and the Missing Tooth Fairy" by Hà Dinh

About this book:

  “Everyone in Ly-Lan’s class seems to be losing teeth lately, but Ly-Lan only has one that is just a little bit loose. Then she bites into a mooncake that she got from the Mid-Autumn Festival, and it suddenly falls out! When she puts it under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy and it’s still there the next day, she declares the Tooth Fairy must be missing. Ly-Lan rallies her friends to help look for the Tooth Fairy, but the adults are less helpful. They keep talking to Ly-Lan about patience and God’s timing. There are more questions than answers in this mysterious case, but Ly-Lan will not rest until she has answers!”


Series: Book #3 in the “Ly-Lan Finds a Way” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- A prayer at bedtime & thanking God; A few talks about God & trusting His timing; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Ly-Lan’s mom tells her that only God knowing why and when things will happen & Ly-Lan asks how to get God to tell her when she’ll loose a tooth (which makes her mom laugh); Later, Ly-Lan tells her best friend what her mom said about trusting God’s timing, but she doesn’t think it’s right and wants to take matters into her own hands about losing a tooth; Three illustrations show that Ly-Lan has a cross on the wall in her bedroom; Mentions of God & trusting His timing; A few mentions of bedtime prayers & praying; 
             *Note: All about & many mentions of the Tooth Fairy, her magic, getting money from her for teeth, & Ly-Lan believing the Tooth Fairy is missing after she stays up to give her the tooth and the fairy doesn’t come; The Tooth Fairy is called “magical” (twice) and described to look like a fairy with little wings; An illustration shows Ly-Lan thinking of the Tooth Fairy living in a fairy garden and that she gets her money for the teeth she collects from there (and thus Ly-Lan thinking her mom was wrong about money not growing on trees as it does in the Tooth Fairy’s magical garden); Another illustration shows a tooth being the seed of a money tree for the Tooth Fairy; *Spoiler* At the very end, Ly-Lan’s tooth disappears with a dollar bill in the spot, which implies that the Tooth Fairy visited her during the night *End of Spoiler*; A couple mentions of keeping faith (for the Tooth Fairy to visit); A mention of a mermaid.
 

Negative Content- Ly-Lan rolls her eyes at a boy and finds him to be sometimes “annoying” (once); Ly-Lan is very concerned when the Tooth Fairy misses collecting her tooth, but her parents assure her that she will come soon; Ly-Lan feels competitive with the smartest boy in her class (over who has lost a baby tooth and the price of it from the Tooth Fairy), so she comes up with a plan to pull her tooth out with the help of her best friend, but her parents tell her that she can’t do that without talking to them about it first; A couple mentions of a lost dog (who was found safe a couple days later).
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Ly-Lan Tran, age 8
                                P.O.V. of Ly-Lan 
                                                        96 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

A couple comments felt a little too adult-ish for an eight-year-old to say, but perhaps some kids would say “dental research” or “data collection” in the proper context and have made a chart for classmates who have lost teeth. I can’t quite tell if it’s a little unrealistic or if I’m completely outside of the target age market for this series. 😂 I do like Ly-Lan and her friend group, though, and learning more about Vietnamese culture! 

 

All the tooth fairy stuff had it’s cute parts, but my family didn’t do that when I was growing up, so I think it was a little lost on me, personally. As a note for parents of young readers, there’s no info about the true identity of the Tooth Fairy, but older readers and adults will be able to read between the lines at Ly-Lan’s parents’ reactions to the Tooth Fairy “missing” her tooth.

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Zonderkidz) for this honest review.

"Ly-Lan and the Unfair Book Fair" by Hà Dinh

About this book:

  “Sometimes life is not fair! In this second book in the Ly-Lan Finds a Way chapter book series about a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ly-Lan navigates the school book fair—complete with anticipation and disappointment, surprising injustices (why did prices go up?), and finding a way to thrive.
    Ly-Lan couldn‘t be more excited for the book fair to come to her school. She’s going to buy the latest book in her favorite series, The Adventures of Pizza Head, two cute posters, and some pencils with a squishy top. But when she realizes that not all kids have money to buy books at the Book Fair, she wonders if the Book Fair is actually fair. At Sunday School, Ly-Lan learns that God is always just and fair, and wonders how she can help make it fair for everyone at school. Ly-Lan wants to help but that’s turning out to be much more difficult than she imagined. But if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s problem solving and finding a way.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Ly-Lan Finds a Way” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Going to Sunday school and learning about God being just and fair; 
Talks about God & Him being fair; Mentions of God; A couple mentions of Sunday school classes and lessons; A mention of a cross on the wall of Ly-Lan’s bedroom (also shown in an illustration);
             *Note: Mentions of magical creatures like unicorns and mermaids.
 

Negative Content- N/A. 
             *Note: Ly-Lan is upset that her parents won’t give her money for the Book Fair like they usually do because they want her to use the money she has (they work a deal for her to earn more by doing more chores and speaking Vietnamese more at home); Ly-Lan also gets upset that the Book Fair at her school isn’t fair because not every kid can buy something there (but she offers a solution to help with that). 
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Ly-Lan Tran, age 8
                                P.O.V. of Ly-Lan
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

We start this book with a quick little recap of the events in the first book in this series, “Ly-Lan and the New Class Mix-up”, and then it’s time to learn that the Book Fair is happening soon! I was in private school for a couple years before being homeschooled when I was about Ly-Lan’s age and the Book Fair was very exciting! Based off this story though, I would say prices have gone up in almost twenty years, haha! 

 

Ly-Lan has a good heart, but she definitely has lessons to learn—like we all do at that age. It’s a bit of a simple plot, but I think that’s due to it being for younger readers than I usually read and review for.

 

 

See y’all on Wednesday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Zonderkidz) for this honest review.

"Ly-Lan and the New Class Mix-up" by Hà Dinh

About this book:

  “Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we plan! In this chapter book series about a daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ly-Lan navigates her life as a new third grader—complete with old and new friends, unexpected (and disappointing) changes at home and school, and finding a way to thrive.
   Third grade is not starting the way Ly-Lan pictured. First, her best friend Cece is put in another class--even after Ly-Lan prayed they would be in the same one. And then Ly-Lan is tasked with showing the new Vietnamese student around. Ly-Lan wants to hang out with Cece, not play translator to the new girl, and she doesn’t understand why her prayers aren’t being answered. If Ly-Lan is going to survive and thrive in third grade, she must learn to trust in God’s plans, especially when it means making some adjustments to her own.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Ly-Lan Finds a Way” series. 


Spiritual Content- A prayer (that Ly-Lan does with her parents); Ly-Lan shares with her best friend that whenever she needs something, her father has told her to get on her knees, which her friend thinks she means begging, but Ly-Lan explains she means praying and shows her how she prays under a cross in her room to Jesus (there is an illustration of Ly-Lan on her knees praying and a note that she prays with her parents before bed every night); Ly-Lan tells her best friend that her father told her to pray to Jesus whenever she needs help or has a special wish (her best friend says that “that’s cool” and she usually just yells out loud to her parents in hopes one of her parents can get her wish for her); Ly-Lan believes her prayers to be in the same classroom as her best friend has worked since kindergarten, but her mom says she’s not sure that’s how prayers work; When she finds out she’s not in the same class with her best friend, Ly-Lan wonders if she said the wrong name in her prayers; Ly-Lan’s parents tell her that God isn’t a genie to grant our wishes and that sometimes things don’t work out the way we want even when we pray about it (adding that “prayers are like wishes from our hearts, but sometimes our wishes aren’t always the best thing for us. Only God can decide that. We have to trust Him.” and encourage her about trusting God, but Ly-Lan decides that if praying is not going to help and God doesn’t grant wishes, she’s going to take her chances on someone at school who can grant her wish); Ly-Lan doesn’t think prayers will work after her disappointment and wonders what the point of praying is if it doesn’t come true; *Spoiler* At the very end, Ly-Lan realizes the good that can come from being in a new class and prays with her parents *End of Spoiler*; Talks about God, Jesus, trusting Him, & praying/prayers; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of praying & prayers; 
             *Note: A few mentions of magic (in the sense of Ly-Lan thinking her mother can work magic like creating a certain yummy food and could help her out with the classroom problem; Later, Ly-Lan thinks that moms are magical when her best friend tells her something that her mom said that was the same thing her mom said too); A mention of being lucky.
 

Negative Content- Ly-Lan is upset about her hopes and plans not being able to happen (such as being in the same classroom as her best friend or sitting with her at lunch) and thinks “Adults choose everything for kids—whose class we’re in, where we sit at lunch, and who we sit with!” and adds that “today is officially the worst first day ever.”, but she still follows the directions of her teacher; In a moment of being upset, Ly-Lan whines and says a hurtful thing to her best friend (which her friend says to take back her mean words, but Ly-Lan is still upset); *Spoilers* Towards the end, Ly-Lan realizes that she was wrong and writes an apology note to her best friend and plans to make a new friend or two in her new class; Her best friend forgives her *End of Spoilers*; A couple mentions of jealousy.
 
 
Sexual Content- N/A.
 
-Ly-Lan Tran, age 8
                                P.O.V. of Ly-Lan 
                                                        96 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

To get the technical stuf out of the way: I’m not the best judge for the writing quality of beginner chapter books, so I did think it was a bit simple at times, but I think that can be expected. I don’t know how realistic it was for Ly-Lan’s writing skills either. There were a few times of extra exclamation points in a sentence or amazing being said as “AMAZINGGG!!!” by our main character and her friend. 

 

I thought this story was very cute overall and how important it is for Ly-Lan has to learn that it’s okay and even possible to have more than one best friend. The illustrations were adorable and definitely added to a cute charm to the story. 

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Zonderkidz) for this honest review.