The Tiger Has A Toothache: Helping Animals At The Zoo

by Patricia Lauber

The award-winning author of The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens examines the work of zoo veterinarians, focusing on such cases as a tiger with a toothache, a gorilla with a cold, and a tortoise with a broken bone. Reprint.

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Patricia Lauber is the author of more than sixty-five books for young readers. Many of them are in the field of science, and their range reflects the diversity of her own interests - bats, dolphins, dogs, volcanoes, earthquakes, the ice ages, the Everglades, the planets, and earthworms.

Two of her books, SEEDS: POP STICK GLIDE and JOURNEY TO THE PLANETS, were nonfiction nominees for The American Book Award. She was the 1983 winner of The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for her overall contribution to children's nonfiction literature.

As well as writing books, Ms. Lauber has been editor of Junior Scholastic, editor-in-chief of Science World, and chief editor, science and mathematics, of The New Book of Knowledge.

A graduate of Wellesley College, she is married and lives in Connecticut. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, sailing, traveling, cooking, reading, and listening to music.

Reviews

[Leah Salvagio · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Tiger Has a Toothache: Helping Animals at the Zoo" is about several different animals that experience different health problems, and how the zoo keepers and vet help them. There are many animals around the zoo that have many problems, such as a tiger, a bat, and a snake. The zoo keepers can notice if the animals are not okay and the vet does different things to help each animal, and uses different tools to get them to corporate, such as a tranquilizer to put the tiger to sleep. The book ends reminding the readers how to respect the animals at the zoo and how to be a good visitor. A major theme in this story is consequences for actions as many of the animals have health problems from the way that people treat them when visiting the zoo. I gave this book two stars because I found it boring and a little too realistic. As a child, I do not want to know that they shoot darts into tigers to make them go to sleep or that they drug the frog so the stone can be removed from his throat. I would recommend this book to teach the lessons of action and consequence and remind kids how to act at the zoo, but I would not recommend reading this for fun.

[Josie Newbold]

A book about several animals at zoos that had medical conditions treated through veterinary efforts including a tiger with a toothache, a gorilla with a cold, an orphaned bat, and many other animals. Each of the stories was very short (because it was a picture book). It was a brief but a good read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories of veterinarians helping zoo animals.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent, if somewhat generic, introduction to the work of zoo vets is showcased in this book. The text indicates ways in which sick or injured animals were cared for; however, it does not specify in which zoos the stories happened or even whether or not they were true!

The book does advocate proper “zoo manners” among its young readers, emphasizing in particular the danger posed by throwing coins into animal enclosures.

[Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it is about helping animlas at the zoo. There are 10 sick animals at the zoo. Animals like tigers, penguins, frogs, elephants, and tortoises. The veternarian takes care of the sick animals. I learned about some tools the vet uses to take care of sick animals. I also learned it is very important to be a good zoo visitor.