King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth

King & Kayla #4

by Dori Hillestad Butler, Nancy Meyers (Illustrator)

King & Kayla are back on the case in this laugh-out-loud mystery from the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award-winning series.

Kayla lost a tooth. She put it in the special pocket in her tooth fairy pillow and now her tooth is missing! If she can't find it, the tooth fairy won't come.

Analytical Kayla retraces her steps, searches everywhere, and questions Mason, who rode home from school with her. Sensitive King wonders why Mason smells like a tooth. Could he have Kayla's lost tooth? Or should King take another look at the tooth fairy pillow?

With simple, straightforward language and great verbal and visual humor, the King & Kayla series is perfect for newly independent readers. King and Kayla model excellent problem-solving skills, including working as a team, gathering facts, making lists, and evaluating evidence.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Dogs, Animals, Picture Books, Fiction, Chapter Books

48 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2018

About the author

Dori Hillestad Butler is an American author of more than 40 children's books, as well as magazine stories, plays and educational materials. Her first book, The Great Tooth Fairy Rip-Off, was published in 1997. She is known particularly for The Truth about Truman School, a 2008 young adult title focusing on the subject of cyber bullying, and for My Mom's Having a Baby (illustrated by Carol Thompson), which in 2011 appeared on the American Library Association's list of most commonly challenged books in the United States for its portrayal of conception and childbirth. Her 2010 mystery title, Buddy Files: Case of the Last Boy, won the 2011 Edgar Award for the best juvenile mystery published in 2010. Before becoming a children's author, Butler worked for three years as a page at a library.

Reviews

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

King and Kayla are best friends, dog and master, and amateur detectives. When Kayla loses her tooth, she brings it home in the class tooth pillow to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy. When she tries to show it to King, she realizes it is missing. Where is it? They begin to investigate to find the tooth. Kayla makes lists, King follows his nose. This is a cute beginning chapter book for early readers. They will enjoy the simple story and cute illustrations. This is the fourth in a series for young readers to follow. A great book for school, primary classroom and family libraries. Thanks to Peachtree Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book via Netgalley.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series. Good dog perspective, humor, early logical detection, plus nice POC representation.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fourth entry in the series features an African-American girl, Kayla, and her dog, King. King tells the entire story from his point of view. Kayla loses her tooth at school, and brings it home in the class "tooth fairy pillow." But when she goes to remove the tooth, it is missing. The cute and bumbling King manages to find it. This book is for primary students who have been practicing reading for a while. It is divided into 5 short chapters. The publisher has not given it a level, so I would think it is for students at the end of 1st grade, or in 2nd grade. The book is heavily illustrated, but there are several sentences on each page, and a few pages have only text on them. Great story to introduce beginning readers to the mystery genre, and on a par with the Nate the Great beginning readers.

[Teryca Brooks-Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

King and Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth
Author: Dori Hillestad Butler, Illustrator: Nancy Meyers
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Picture book
Award: Geisel Honor Award
Audience: Grades 2-4
This is the story of a girl and her dog trying to find her lost tooth.
A. This book fits into the specific category because even without reading the words, you can use the. Illustrations to understand the story.
B. The colors used were very bright and consistent throughout the whole story. It was very predictable what colors and shapes would be on the next page. It also satisfies the criteria of being a Theodor Seuss Geisel Award Winner.
C. I would read this book to a group of children who may be going through the experience of losing teeth right now just as a whole group read aloud. They would be excited and may find it entertaining that the dog can talk.

[Kaleigh Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Kayla loses her tooth and after putting it under her pillow it goes missing. Her dog King helps her solve the mystery of the missing tooth!
It is an easy to read book because there are less words and more pictures as well as sentences that are easy to understand.
The visual element of line in the book stuck out to me. The art was simplistic with very evident contours which contributed to the pictures in the story.
I would use this book as a whole group read aloud just to have a break and give the kids a fun storytime.

[DaNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, I end the books in the series with a big grin on my face.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd consider others in the series, but this just seems a bit off to me. A classroom tooth pillow squicks, and buying a new one instead of sewing this one seems wasteful, too. (Yes, I know, a new one would at least be cleaner... :)

King is great though, with his speech pattern that totally reflects his tail-wagging energy and his character. I love that he can focus on the larger mystery while also 'chasing shiny butterflies' of stray thoughts about all the things he loves (like cars, turkey sandwiches, licking Mason, etc.)

Otoh, I do not like that King is allowed to harass Mason but then Kayla apologizes for him. He needs better training.... Or, if Mason doesn't mind, then apologizing for him is just wrong.

I def. appreciate that the black family is the primary one, and that this takes place in a suburb or small town. Not urban, not side-kick, not poverty....

Btw, I say black because they might be African-English or African-Australian...

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A chapter book series featuring a suburban African American girl and her dog who helps her solve simple mysteries. Each book contains a terrific demonstration of deductive reasoning as Kayla writes down what she knows about the case, what she doesn't know, and then makes a plan based on these facts. Kayla's human friends, Jillian and Mason, are Caucasian, though this is never mentioned in the text, which advances the idea that it is perfectly normal to have friends of different races. The full-color illustrations are a real treat and add a lot of personality to the story.

In this fourth series installment, Kayla brings home her tooth that fell out, but the tooth has apparently disappeared from the class tooth fairy pillow. Passing around a class tooth fairy pillow is not only unsanitary, but it assumes that all parents buy into the tooth fairy myth.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

King and Kayla are normally cute, but this book was pretty mediocre. Gross class-shared Tooth Fairy pillow, and the assumption that all families do the whole Tooth Fairy thing - just meh. Love diverse early readers, but this one is not a great entry to this series.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a great series! King (the dog) and Kayla (the girl) solve mysteries. This time the mystery is what happened to Kayla's tooth that she was going to give to the tooth fairy. I have objections to telling kids stories that aren't true such as the tooth fairy, but ok, I won't deduct for that prejudice. Kayla had lost the tooth at school and was showing the tooth to her friend and Mom on the drive home. She also had a little pillow being passed around for each kid in the class to put their tooth in while waiting for the tooth fairy. King is an exuberant dog and loves everything....even the grouchy cat who gave no help in finding the tooth. King suspected Mason, the friend, whose hand smelled of turkey sandwich just like Kayla's hand and the pillow did. But it wasn't Mason. King licked Mason thoroughly and didn't find that tooth. Finally King has an idea. He goes back to the empty tooth pillow and checks it out again. It is a nice lesson that sometimes it pays to double check locations even if you have looked there once. I do like that there is no bad guy in this mystery and that it is one that could happen to any kid!

[BiblioBickie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as the previous K&K books. Mystery not well-developed and not solved by reasoning. Perfectly acceptable for kids who might be wondering about the tooth fairy, though it is interesting that the class has a tooth fairy pillow the kids all pass around when a tooth falls out. Does everyone's family buy into the tooth fairy tradition? What if they have other lost-tooth traditions? What if a dollar (as depicted in the book) is a bit steep for the family? What about lice?

[Mary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the dual perspectives (dog and girl) as they solve a mystery. Not sure about the classroom Tooth Fairy pillow. That's treading in some semi-dangerous waters to assume every family observes Tooth Fairy traditions.

[Hannah Ames · Rating 4 out of 5]

King Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth by Dori Hillestad Butler is a really great book for your beginner readers. The book uses a lot of illustrations to help the reader figure out what the words are saying. The words within the book are also repeating and very simple to sound out. The plot talks about how King is sad waiting for Kayla to come home from school and when she finally does, he is very excited. The story is told from the golden retriever’s perspective. Kayla is also very happy to see King and she cannot wait to tell him what happened at school today. She gets out her tooth fairy holder bag to show King that she lost her tooth. When Kayla opens the bag, she notices that her tooth is nowhere to be found. She checks the car, her backpack, and eventually has to go ask her friend if they have seen it. When Kayla finally finds her tooth, they are careful to buy a new tooth fairy holder bag so that her tooth does not get lost again. Kayla also wants to make sure that when she returns the tooth fairy bag back to her class that there is no hole in it so that other students do not lose their tooth as well.

I think this book is very simple and is perfect for a beginner reader. Although the wording is very simple and repeats itself a lot there is still a plot in the book, and it can still be a fun read. I really liked how the dog is the narrator of the story. I think by having him narrate it adds to the sweetness of the book. The fact that Kayla talks to her dog about her day and what’s happening is an accurate representation of what all dog owners do with their dogs. I thought it was sweet how they made looking for the tooth a big search party mystery and that King was involved in the looking for it. I also liked that King was ahead of the game on where the tooth might be but could not always communicate it to Kayla. The illustrations were really cute and simple but not too simple that you couldn’t tell what was happening. I think the way they were drawn was really easy for not only kids to understand but for adults to understand as well. The colors that were used in the book were bright and happy which reflected a lot of how Kayla and King were portrayed in the book. It did not matter that Kayla had lost her tooth she was still happy to go on a mystery hunt to find it. Kayla also never got discouraged even when her tooth was not in different places that she thought it was. Which I think is an important lesson for kids to understand and have. I loved how in the beginning of the book King was waiting for Kayla to come home and how he explained it felt like forever since he’d seen her even though Kayla was just at school for the day.

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Kayla loses her tooth at school she brings it home in the class tooth pillow pouch so she can leave it for the tooth fairy that night, but when she goes to show it to her best friend and dog King it’s not there! How will King and Kayla solve the mystery of the missing tooth? With a good mystery solving plan and some help from King’s super doggy nose, that’s how.

This title from the King and Kayla mystery series continues the high quality beginning reader books starring our mystery solving duo. Kayla is a diverse character with a mystery story that kids ages 5-8 can relate too. Butler’s writing is fun and playful, but also extremely educational as Kayla makes a written plan to help her solve the mystery. This kernel of her planning how she is going to solve the problem is so important to healthy development in children. She doesn’t charge off with no destination in mind, but with deliberate thought. King acts like a foil and while his nose can sniff out clues, he’s the one that may go off on a tangent till Kayla brings him back on the plan. The full color pencil with digital color illustrations are charming and make the book even more appealing to the target audience which are rising from being read to into readers on their own. I would highly recommend this title for purchase by any school or public library.

This book was provided by the publisher for professional review by SWON Libraries.

[Lacie Ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cute children's book is about a young girl named Kayla and her dog named King. King and Kayla are best friends. Kayla ends up losing her tooth at school and brings it home and puts it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. She tries to show it to King but sees that its missing. King and Kayla try to find the tooth. Eventually, with the help of her parents, Kayla finds the tooth inside her pillow case rather than underneath it. This was my first children's book that I have read in a long time so of course I loved it! I love the idea of how there is mystery happening at this age level to get students guessing what could happen next or how they can apply what the know/read to solve the mystery. In the classroom, I would use this fun book for a read aloud to get students engage in a group discussion of what they think happened to Kayla's tooth while reading the story. Then at the end of the book and discussion, I would ask the students where they would hide their tooth so this situation doesn't happen to them. I think this would be a great way to get students involved in talking to each other and creating friendships during the first or second week of school. Something simple, but also fun and relevant.

[Erin Buhr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the latest in a darling mystery series for new readers. This follows the same now familiar format. Something happens to Kayla that creates a mystery. In this case, her lost tooth is missing. I love the gentleness to each mystery. They are always every day events that kids can relate to easily. Then Kayla sets about solving the mystery by creating lists of what she knows and doesn't and looking for more clues. Her calm approach to problem solving is one of my favorite parts of these books. Eventually she solves the mystery, but not without the help of her dog King. What is so genius about these books is that they are written from the perspective of her dog. King is hilarious. His attempts at communicating with Kayla, her constant misunderstandings, and his insight into each mystery are the highlights of these books. King's point of view is what has my kids giggling and never fails to put a smile on my face as well. A quality series for young readers.

*Thank you Peachtree for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

[Pablo Fedriani]

This book was very easy to read and entertaining all the way through. I feel like this book is directed to 6 to 8 year olds, the language is not very complicated and the story was very easy to follow. The book is about Kayla and her dog King, this time Kayla lost her teeth that she was saving for the tooth fairy. King helps her look for it by going to the car with her, registering Mason, making a list of where it can be and more. At the end, King ends up finding the tooth by destroying the tooth bag, at the end it was there all along.
The book does an amazing job on explaining with simple sentences and understandable language how a dog feels, always excited, thinking about food, helping her owner, being sad when they are mad at him... I feel like the author did a good job with these things and I feel like a kid would understand and have more empathy for dogs because of this book. The illustrations are simplistic but effective, they do a good job of expressing the dog's feelings. Very nice book for kids who love animals.

[Abigail Ferlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth by Dori Hillestad Bulter is a book from the perspective of the dog, King, who wants nothing more than to be alongside his best friend Kayla. He waits for her all day while she is at school, and when she finally comes home, he finds out that she lost a tooth at school, and has been given the tooth fairy pillow to place it in at night. Unfortunately, Kayla seems to have misplaced her tooth, so King and Kayla go searching together. Along the way, King finds food, all of which is his favorite kind, but they do not find the tooth. When it seems that all hope is lost, King thinks he still smells what Kayla ate for lunch before losing her tooth. Sure enough, after digging deep into, and tearing apart the tooth fairy pillow, the tooth is found! This story is a small story about perseverance when looking for something. I do wonder though why there is a shared pillow for when someone from the class loses a tooth. Yuck!

[Jillian Cryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kayla loses her tooth and hopes that the tooth fairy will take it from her, but she loses it again when she puts it under her pillow. The Case of the Lost Tooth follows King and Kayla along the scavenger hunt of trying to find her tooth. I really liked that the book was a short chapter book and a picture book at the same time. I also really liked that the book was relatable for the children reading it. Losing a tooth is always such a fun event! Something that I wish the author would have done different is not having the dog talk. I personally don't like when animals talk in books, I don't know why, I just find it to be odd. Also, when animals and humans can have conversations, it makes the book less real. I prefer to read children's books that are realistic fiction and not completely fake because they are a little more relatable.

[Ashley Pascual · Rating 4 out of 5]

King and Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth is about a girl named Kayla who lost her tooth. Kayla was very excited when she came home to use her class tooth fairy pillow only to be disappointed that her tooth is nowhere to be found. With her tooth being lost, Kayla and her dog King paired up to solve the mystery of where her tooth as gone. Throughout the book, it shows Kayla discovering clues of where her tooth could be. As the book is being told from the dog's point of view, it takes the reader throughout this journey in a fun and exciting way. It is a very entertaining book that I believe children will enjoy reading because of how silly the story is. I would use this in the classroom as a way to teach children about fantasy because the books talk about the tooth fairy which is a make-believe creature that children learn about when they're younger.

[Valerie Erskine]

King and Kayla and the Lost Tooth is an excellent read for kids that are new to reading on their own. The book contains short chapters, each page contains only a few sentences and illustrations. The story follows Kayla who has just lost her tooth, she brings it home in her classes tooth pillow but soon finds out it is missing. Kayla and her dog King embark on a hunt to find Kayla’s missing tooth. In the end King smells something interesting in the pillow and chews it apart, he soon discovers Kayla’s tooth in the stuffing and the mystery is solved. Kayla’s mom buys a new pillow for Kayla’s class. This book which is written by Dori Hillestad Butler and illustrated by Nancy Meyers is a Theodor Seuss Geisel honor book and rightfully so. This easy read focuses on the main character losing her tooth which is an exciting time for any child.

[Annie Gbaford · Rating 3 out of 5]

"King & Kayla: The Case of the Missing Dog Treats" is about a dog named King and his owner Kayla. Kayla's had baked dog treats for King and a friend that was coming over with her new puppy. Kayla let King try one of the treats. Then Kayla and King went outside with her friend and the new puppy. King played with Thor (the puppy). Thor likes nibbling on King's ear. They eventually went inside King could smell that there had been an intruder in the house he tried to tell Kayla but she wouldn't listen. Until she noticed that there was a missing dog treat she blamed King for taking it but it wasn't him. King went on a search in the house and found the intruder.

This is a fun and easy book to read. The format is perfect for children learning to read with an easy story to follow. I would recommend using this in your classroom.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 5 out of 5]

King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth by Dori Hillestad Butler, Illustrated by Nancy Meyers, EARLY READER. Peachtree, 2018. $7. 1682630188

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

Kayla lost her tooth at school. The teacher gave her the class tooth fairy pillow and she zipped her tooth inside. But when she gets home to show her missing tooth to King, it's gone! They look in the pocket of the pillow, even in the car, but no tooth!

King is the cutest dog! He and Kayla make a great team, solving mysteries. This is a wonderful series and the solutions are not obvious. A fun early reader.

Lisa Librarian
https://kissthebookjr.blogspot.com/20...

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is about a dog named King and his owner and friend named Kayla. Kayla comes home from school and is excited to tell king and her mom about how she lost her tooth at school that day and got to put it in the class tooth fairy pillow. But when Kayla looks in the pillow to show her tooth, it is gone. So, King and Kayla search and investigate where her tooth has gone. This is not a bad book by any means, but I felt like it lacked something. There just wasn’t anything special about the book. I was a sweet story and I love anything with dogs, but I didn’t feel any sort of emotions reading the book. I personally feel that the purpose of the book is more for helping kids to practice their reading and teach the lesson to not give up, and not so much to be an amazing story.

[Courtney Durbin · Rating 2 out of 5]

King & Kayla and the Case of the Lost Tooth is not one of my favorites. This story is about a young African American girl losing her tooth and placing it under her pillow. Kayla finds out her tooth has gone missing and her dog King acts as her trusty side-kick and helps her solve the mystery of the missing tooth. The illustrations in tis book are quiet simple and there is not much color. Though, the colors that are used are vibrant which makes the illustrations stand out a bit more. There is a lot of white space that fills each page, which I did not particularly like. I think this book would be good for 2-3 grade level, or even as a class read aloud. I would not use this book to teach a lesson, it would be used for a fun read and a break from class activities.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The detective duo of King & Kayla work together to solve another case as Kayla opens her class’s tooth fairy pillow and finds the tooth she lost at school missing. While Kayla employs reasoning, making lists of what she does and doesn’t know about its disappearance, King uses his nose to uncover clues (there’s the distinct aroma of turkey sandwiches on the pillow). Young readers will enjoy this story in beginning-chapter-book format told from King’s viewpoint and the way in which the humorous cartoonlike illustrations show how the golden retriever recovers Kayla’s missing tooth in a decidedly puppylike manner.

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kayla has lost her first tooth and brought it home in a special tooth pillow to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy. But the tooth fairy leaves a note saying there was no tooth to be found. Where did Kayla's tooth go?

Oh my goodness, King cracks me up the way he says every single food he thinks of is his favorite. It sounds so true to some dog personalities I have known. This is the most puzzling of the King & Kayla mysteries I've read. It's a great one for little sleuths to practice forming their predictions of what will happen and then revise as they get more information. Highly recommended.

[Olivia S · Rating 5 out of 5]

"My nose twitches. I smell something. It's not Kayla's tooth. It's Cat with No Name! He's hiding under a bush. 'Hi, Cat with No Name!' I say. 'It's me, King!' He just blinks at me."

I loved this book! My favourite part is the stuff narrated by King, very authentically dog-ish. I also love when King "says" stuff. So funny. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the fact that they share a class tooth fairy pillow...GROSS! Especially since King keeps talking about what the teeth smell like! Otherwise though, great. Would definitely recommend. RL 3 so depends on the kid, maybe like 7+

[Kali Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book! I loved how the story isn't a basic, "girl lost her tooth, threw a fit, blah blah blah." In this story, the little girl, Kayla, has lost her tooth that was placed inside her class tooth pillow. She goes back to the many places where she last seen the tooth to "investigate the scene" and retrace her steps. When all fails, she creates a "What We Know" and "What We Don't Know" list, to jot down everything she knows about the last whereabouts of her tooth. It just an amazing story for children to read and learn a few things from.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kayla brought home her lost tooth in the class tooth bag. She is to put it under her pillow tonight for the tooth fairy, and return the bag to school tomorrow for the next kid who loses a tooth. She showed the tooth to Mason on the way home but neither knows where the tooth is now. Kayla writes a lust of what they know King's, and another of what they don't know, then they need to come up with a plan. King's superior nose saves the day.
King has many favorite foods.
Getting ready for early reader book club.