Did you know that in France, instead of the Tooth Fairy, children are visited by La Petite Souris (the little mouse)? I didn’t until I saw this post at Design Mom. So cute!! I haven’t done much research on this, but I’d love to see an English translation or English-written book about La Petite Souris. Or maybe I’m just reminded of of The Tale of Despereaux, an MG favorite.
For more tooth fun, check out Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World by Selby B. Beeler and G. Brian Karas. It’s an adorable book about how different cultures celebrate a tooth falling out.
(Illustration by Delphine Doreau)
“I Lost my Tooth in Africa” by Penda Diakite is another great foreign tooth fairy story set in Mali. They have a tooth fairy, but instead of putting the tooth under a pillow for her, Amina leaves it under a gourd. Lo and behold, her reward is two chickens! Fun stories for exposing children to world traditions.
That sounds awesome! Thanks for the recommendation.
I tried to write my reply in French, but way too many words came up that I couldn’t remember, so I gave up! haha.
If I remember rightly, the petite souris comes from a seventeenth-century French tale of the Baroness d’Aulnoy: The Good Little Mouse. There’s a fairy in it who is turned into a mouse to help the Queen defeat an evil king, who hides under the pillow.
It’s all very sweet though thinking of a little mouse looking after the dents de lait. 🙂
That is ADORABLE! Thanks for sharing the story.
If you’d replied in French I would have had to hit Google Translate. 😉 My language skills are so minor.
haha! No worries.
Ah, mais google translate ne fonctionne pas toujours correctement! J’aime le francais. 🙂