Each morning after polishing his scales, sharpening his nails and brushing his big, sharp teeth, Alan heads into the jungle for a day of scaring.
‘Snap, Snap! Grrrr!
Bwa-ha-ha! I love being scary!’
But after he gets home in the evening, unbeknown to all the other jungle animals, Alan removes his big, scary FALSE teeth and hides them. He does not want anyone to ever find out that he is the only toothless alligator in a long line of scary, toothy alligators.
One morning while he is still asleep, Alan's secret is discovered and when he wakes up his teeth are gone! Alan wonders if the animals of the jungle might still be scared of him so he continues on his daily scaring routine. The animals do in fact continue to fall out of trees and off their perches, but this time it is because they are laughing very hard. And they are all laughing at Alan.
If you are familiar with books by Jarvis, you will recognise with delight his style of illustrations that are bright with colour, and busy with beautiful and humorous details. What I particularly loved about this story was that while Alan does learn his lesson about scaring the other jungle animals - he now uses his skills to assist the animals with their gardening, hairdressing and dental hygiene needs - he can still continue to be scary as he now puts his excellent scaring skills to use as the jungle scary-storyteller!
‘Bwa-ha-ha! I love being scary!’
Title: Alan's Big, Scary Teeth
Author/Illustrator: Jarvis
Publisher: Walker Books, $16.99
Publication Date: 1 June 2016
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781406370805
For ages: 3 - 6
Type: Picture Book
