Karen's Toothache

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #43

by Ann M. Martin

After hoping in vain that her bad toothache will just go away, Karen finally goes to the dentist where she learns that she will have to have her tooth removed

Genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Fiction, Middle Grade, Juvenile

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1993

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Katie]

Karen gets a toothache and has to get her baby tooth pulled to allow her big tooth to grow in. Karen’s also playing fortune teller and gets a lot of things right, so she freaks herself out by predicting that her dentist appointment will b a disaster and she hides in a tree until her parents call the police. But it ended up being fine. Karen was a cute little fortune teller. Ms. Colman is not having a baby now… but does she later in the series?

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

Karen calls the dentist a 'tooth doctor'


When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.

[Em's Adventures]

I can relate to this, when my Mum asked me after my appointment whether I needed a filling, I lied and told her no. She found out though because she needed to go back and get some floss so she made an appointment for me to get my filling and of course I was not happy, but of course it wasn't that bad!😂

[Ashley]

Another book that I didn't have as a child, but I think I read it. And not a particularly good book, this was more about Karen's "fortune telling" than her toothache. In fact, the toothache seemed like a minor plot point.

[Jaclyn]

Good story to make little kids less anxious about going to the dentist.

I WILL say though that stories like this and similar versions in Sweet Valley Kids and Baby Sitters Club autobiographies raised unrealistic expectations for me for what to expect at the dentist. It's nowhere near as fun and painless as these books make it seem. 😕

[Elise]

I think this book is good for those who are younger and afraid of going to the dentist for a procedure. I know I was one of those kids. But some of the stuff she does in fear of going to the dentist is kind of dark for a little sister book. Also, she does a lot of fortune telling on the school playground in this book and makes money from it.

[Melenia]

Loved these books as a child