A Good Book Can Make You Smile

At Dentistry for Children, oral health is about more than just clean teeth and healthy gums—it’s also about creating reasons to smile. We believe one of the best ways to inspire imagination and happiness in children is through reading, so we’ve pulled together a list of some of our favorite grin-inducing books. Enjoy!

Little Blue Truck
A little friendliness goes a long way—that’s the lesson kids learn from Blue, the amicable little truck in the first of our favorite bedtime stories. Blue warmly greets all his furry, feathered and amphibian neighbors with a “Beep!” as he rolls through the countryside.

When a rude, brutish dump truck gets stuck in the mud after barreling past Blue and his friends, no one wants to help—except the friendly blue truck.

After Blue sinks in the muck as he’s trying to help, the animals are far more willing to lend a hoof. All together, animal and automobile find their way out of the mud and back on the road.
Beep! Beep! Beep!

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon
Meet Molly Lou Melon. She’s short, buck-toothed, clumsy and unshakably courageous. When Molly moves to a new neighborhood and is targeted by school bully Ronald Durkin, she remembers the wise advice of her grandma: “Believe in yourself and the world will believe in you too.”

When Ronald makes fun of her teeth, she awes her classmates by stacking pennies on them. When he mocks her height during a football game, she runs under his legs and scores a touchdown. And when he tells her she’s making a paper snowflake all wrong, she unveils one bigger and more beautiful than all the others.

This homage to eccentricity makes our list of favorites because Molly is a bright, refreshing reminder that true confidence comes from self-acceptance.

A Frog in the Bog
One tick, two fleas, three flies (Oh, my!), four slugs (Ew, ugh!) and five slimy snails: these are the contents of a frog’s stomach after eating more than his share while sitting on a half-sunk log in the middle of a bog.

When the log he’s resting on rises out of the water, looks at him with big yellow eyes and reveals a mouthful of sharp teeth, the frog realizes he’s been munching atop a hungry gator all along!

He opens his mouth to let out a fearful holler and out come crawling the very fortunate critters in his belly.

We enjoy this clever and rhythmic book by Karma Wilson (author of Bear Snores On) because it is a perfect counting book for even the youngest readers.

Today I Feel Silly
Talk about feeling all the feels. Joy, grumpiness, sadness and silliness— the lively heroine experiences them all and more in this story about navigating unpredictable emotions.

Whether she’s feeling guilty after tattling on a friend, or bashful about having a crush on her teacher, the young protagonist identifies and expresses each emotion honestly and creatively.

We recommend this book because Jamie Lee Curtis’ bouncy yet lyrical verse teaches kids that emotions aren’t bad and whatever they’re feeling inside is okay!

Micawber
Micawber is one sophisticated squirrel.

His quest for the finer things in life takes him from his Central Park home through the bustling streets of New York City to the place he loves best: the art museum.

After perusing the works of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Rousseau and Titian, he sees an artist in the act of recreating a famous Monet painting. Micawber has never seen a painting being made before and is intrigued. He decides to follow the artist—and all her paints and brushes—home.

When she’s asleep, Micawber helps himself to her art supplies and loses himself in a whirlwind of color and canvas, creating his own painting for the first time. An artist is born!

This book makes our list because, with refined and light-hearted prose, author John Lithgow teaches young readers that whether you’re appreciating or creating it, art is for everyone!

We partner with families to ensure the whole health of the child. For additional resources about children’s dental health please contact us, or you can check out some of our other blog entries.