Hazel Rochman (Booklist, Feb. 1, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 11))
The enduring connection between a child in Portland, Oregon, and her extended family in Bamako, Mali, is the theme of this picture book, based on a true story, which the author wrote when she was just eight years old. In an immediate first-person account, a little girl relates her excitement about flying from America to revisit her father's family in Mali. One of her teeth is loose, and her dad tells her that if she loses her tooth and puts it under a gourd, she will get a chicken from the African Tooth Fairy. That's exactly what happens, and the last page shows the girl, minus one tooth and holding a speckled hen. The focus is on the rich daily life of the community, and the pictures--bright ceramic-tile-like illustrations by Diakite's father (whose picture books include the Coretta Scott King Honor Book The Hunterman and the Crocodile (1997)--are framed in borders decorated with everything from the sun, moon, and stars to eggs, chickens, feathers, and vegetables. The lively art shows why the narrator is sad to leave and looks forward to coming back. A glossary, a song, and a recipe for African onion sauce round out a book filled with charm. Category: Books for the Young--Fiction. 2006, Scholastic, $16.99. PreS-Gr. 2.

Carrie Hodge (Children's Literature)
Amina and her parents, from Portland, Oregon, go to Mali, Africa, to visit family. Amina discovers a loose tooth on the visit, and her father tells her that the African tooth fairy leaves children real chickens for their teeth. After days of impatient waiting, Amina finally loses her tooth, and instead of receiving one chicken from the African tooth fairy, she receives a hen and a rooster. Her hen lays eggs, and Amina impatiently begins waiting all over again, this time waiting for the chicks to hatch. The day she is supposed to leave Africa for home, her chicken's eggs hatch, enabling her to see the chicks before she leaves. Author Penda DiakitT, who wrote the story when she was eight years old, based it on her sister's true story of losing a tooth in Africa. The choppy writing reflects a child's hand, which interrupts the flow of the narrative. The story itself attempts to interject aspects of "real-life" in Africa, but clumsy interjections get lost in Amina's concentration on losing her tooth. The artwork, which creates an authentic feel of an African setting, saves this children's book from being a complete failure. The borders on the illustrations frame the work and give the pictures a folksy feel, and the bright colors bring the story to life where the writing fails to do so. 2006, Scholastic Press, $16.99. Ages 4 to 8.

Emily Cook (Children's Literature)
Amina is on her way to Africa. It is there she will visit her father's family in Bamako, Mali. Amina is very excited for her big trip but she is also very nervous. It is a long flight, through many countries. Amina is also nervous because she has a loose tooth and is afraid she will lose it during her visit. Her nervousness turns to excitement when her papa tells her she will get a chicken from the African Tooth Fairy if her tooth falls out during their visit. Each day, Amina wiggles and wiggles her tooth but nothing. Then one morning as she brushes her teeth, out it pops! Amina rushes to put her tooth under the calabash gourd near her bedroom window, just as her father instructed her to. Later, she can wait no longer and must peek underneath to see if her tooth is still there. To her surprise, Amina finds not one, but two chickens from the African Tooth Fairy! She nurtures and cares for her chickens, a male and a female. Within days, eggs appear in their nest. She is so excited she can barely stand it. In twenty-one days, her chicks will be born. But just before the eggs are due to hatch, Amina's father tells her it is time to leave. Amina is sad to leave her grandmother, aunts and uncles, Africa, and her chickens. If only the eggs had hatched. As Amina says "kawn-bay," or "good-bye" to her family and friends and the traditions of Africa, she heads to the hen house to say one last farewell to her hen and rooster. She can barely believe it when she peeks inside. A chick is hatching out of an egg... then another... and another! Amina is so happy to see the new babies. When her uncle promises to care for her chickens while she is gone, she can head back home with a smile on her face. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and bright. The tale Diakite tells is endearing and fascinating as she shares the wonder and traditions of Mali. This book should be thoroughly enjoyed. 2006, Scholastic Press, $16.99. Ages 7 to 9.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Amina’s family is visiting relatives in Mali, and she’s hopeful that her loose tooth will fall out before they have to return home to Oregon. In Mali, her father explained, children who lose a tooth are given a chicken by the African tooth fairy. Amina is thrilled when she wakes up one morning and discovers a space where her tooth used to be. Later that day she finds not one chicken but two—a hen and a rooster—under a calabash gourd. Soon the hen has laid eggs, and just before Amina leaves for America the first chick hatches. Marvelous details of the time Amina spends with her extended family—things they do, foods they eat—enliven this story grounded in her appealing, first-person voice. Penned by teenager Penda Diakité, about her younger sister’s experiences on one of their family trips to Mali, the picture book is illustrated by Baba Wagué Diakité, the father of both girls. The elder Diakité’s richly hued artwork, comprised of hand-painted ceramic tiles, features his trademark elements of whimsy. CCBC Category: Picture Books for School-Aged Children. 2006, Scholastic Press, 32 pages, $16.99. Ages 4-8.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2005 (Vol. 73, No. 24))
Penda, the author, and Amina, the subject of her older sister's book, are the children of the inventive Malian author/illustrator who has shared his culture through retellings of traditional folktales and creative ceramic-tile illustrations with distinctive borders. Now the father uses his art detailing village life in Mali to illustrate a story written by his elder daughter when she was eight. Instead of getting money from the Tooth Fairy, children in Mali get a chicken. Born in Portland, Ore., Amina loses her tooth on a vacation trip to Mali and gets two chickens, a hen and a rooster. When they begin to lay eggs, she hopes that she will see the baby chicks before she has to return home. DiakitT includes a recipe for Malian onion sauce, mentioned in the text, a glossary and a goodnight song in Bambara, one of the languages used in Mali. The young author's descriptions offer an amusing introduction to one African country, and an excellent way to encourage children to start writing their own family stories. 2006, Scholastic, 32p, $16.99. Category: Picture book. Ages 5 to 8. © 2005 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Christine Markley (Library Media Connection, April/May 2006)
Based on a true story, this enjoyable book is filled with details of everyday life in Africa. Amina is on her way to visit her father's family in Africa when she discovers a loose tooth. She wants to lose her tooth in Africa because the African Tooth Fairy will bring her a chicken. As she visits family and friends and experiences daily life in an African village, she wiggles her tooth. The colorful illustrations highlighted by unique borders detail life in an African village. Teachers will use this excellent book when discussing different cultures and customs. Pair this with Throw Your Tooth on the Roof (Beeler, Houghton Mifflin, 2001) to further explore Tooth Fairy customs around the world. Students will enjoy the book because it feels like a friend is telling them about her vacation. Told by a child, this story of customs in an African village will find a home in any library. Recommended. 2006, Scholastic, Inc, 32pp., $17 hc. Ages 6 to 10.

Hope Morrison (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, March 2006 (Vol. 59, No. 7))
With text by thirteen-year-old Penda Diakité and illustrations by her more famous father Baba Wagué Diakité (The Magic Gourd, BCCB 3/03, The Hatseller and the Monkeys, BCCB 2/99), this fact-based story of losing a tooth while visiting family in Mali rings with authenticity and good humor. As the story begins, Amina (the author’s younger sister) discovers a wiggly tooth en route to Bamako. She hopes for it to fall out because “if you lose a tooth in Africa and put it under a gourd, you will get a chicken from the African Tooth Fairy!” Days later, the tooth pops, a chicken and rooster appear from under the gourd, and Amina spends the rest of her stay caring for the birds and awaiting the hatching of the eggs. There is unquestionable early elementary appeal in any story about losing a tooth; the child voice and cross-cultural setting give this tale even more liveliness. Amina’s youthful descriptions of her African family yield a rich sense of familial devotion and love; all of life centers on the courtyard, the communal meals, the countless aunties and uncles. Elementally speaking, this is a universal tale of a young girl with a loose tooth and a big family, and it is this universality that allows it to overcome the tendency for memoirs to be personally significant only to the author. Each ceramic-tile illustration, framed by a patterned border, is dense with images from the tale; the illustrations exude happiness and togetherness, and the thick paint echoes the lushness of the jungle setting. This could partner with Beeler’s Throw Your Tooth on the Roof (BCCB 11/98) for a look at global tooth-losing rituals or it could be enjoyed on its own; young listeners will appreciate this on many levels, from the identification with losing a tooth to the kid-centered descriptions of day-to-day life, from the marvel of raising chickens to the sprinkling of information about the family and village. Notes from the author and illustrator are included, as is a glossary and a basic recipe. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Scholastic, 32p, $16.99. Ages 5-7 yrs.

Susan Stepp (The Lorgnette-Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 19, No. 4))
On a trip to see relatives in Mali, West Africa, Amina discovers a loose tooth. Her father tells her if she loses the tooth in Africa and puts in under a gourd, the African tooth fairy will give her a chicken. She does lose the tooth while brushing her teeth under the mango tree and is rewarded with a rooster and a hen. She is delighted when the hen lays eggs and two hatch on the day she goes back to Oregon. The book is rich in West African culture. There is an author’s note, artist’s note, glossary, song, and recipe. One of the neatest things about the book is that it is a family collaboration. Diakite wrote this story when she was eight years old about her younger sister’s real experience of losing her tooth on a trip to Africa to see relatives. The illustrator is her father, Baba Wague Diakite, an artist and author who has won several awards including the Coretta Scott King Honor Book. The illustrations are vivid, colorful, and bordered with interesting motifs. This book would make an excellent addition to a library for studying various cultures from around the globe. It is written by a child from a child’s point of view about something that happens to all children--losing a tooth. Fiction, Highly Recommended. Grades 1-5. 2006, Scholastic, Unpaged., $16.99.

Prisca Martens (WOW Review: Reading Across Cultures, March 2009 (Vol. 1, No. 3))
Hi! My Name is Amina.” With that beginning Amina takes readers on a journey from her home in Portland, Oregon, to visit her father’s family in Bamako, Mali, in West Africa. Just before they arrive, eight-year-old Amina discovers she has a loose tooth. When her father tells her that the African Tooth Fairy gives a chicken to children who put a tooth under a gourd, Amina is anxious for her tooth to come out. Throughout her visits with cousins, aunts, uncles, and her grandmother, she works on her tooth until it finally pops out as she is brushing her teeth. She places the tooth under a calabash gourd and later finds it replaced with a rooster and a hen. Amina cares for them and is excited to find eggs in their coop one morning. Amina worries that the eggs won’t hatch before she leaves but on her last day in Africa, as she is saying good-by, she discovers the eggs are hatching. Uncle Madou promises to care for the chicks until Amina returns.
    This enjoyable contemporary realistic story is based on a true account written by the author when she was twelve years old about her younger sister Amina. Penda’s father, Baba Wagué Diakite, is the illustrator of this book. An award-winning creator of children’s books, he was born and raised in Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He moved to Portland over twenty years ago and married an American artist. While Penda grew up in Portland, she traveled to Mali every year with her family. Inspired by her father’s storytelling and these family trips, Penda eagerly wrote her story.
    Since losing teeth is a common experience, the story has universal appeal for children. It offers rich possibilities for discussions about growing up, responsibilities, and family and cultural traditions. As she tells the story, Amina invites readers to experience African life and culture, including living with extended family, experiencing foods and communal meals, and spending time in various activities. Readers also learn something about the African language through Bambara (the national language of Mali) phrases used in the text. An appendix that contains a glossary of Bambara words, a good-night song, and recipe for African onion sauce mentioned in the text add to the authenticity of the book.
    The illustrations by Baba Wagué Diakite are colorful ceramic tiles framed in distinctive borders that pick up elements of African life related to the story, such as teeth, roosters, hens, sun, moon, eggs, and vegetables. The front and back endpapers display patterns representative of African culture. The lively, lush illustrations convey a close happy family, bring the story to life, and invite readers into Amina’s family and adventures.
    The book would compliment other texts on tooth traditions around the world, such as Tooth Tales from around the World (Marlene Targ Brill, 1998) and Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World (Selby Beeler, 1998). Scholastic.