by Hilary McKay
‘For kids?’
‘Yes, and,’ said Max, ‘the tooth fairy is a waste of teeth!’
‘A waste of teeth?’
‘You’ll find out!’ said Max, walking away.
After Max had gone, Charlie remembered that his brother had always been like this about the tooth fairy. When Max’s own teeth had fallen out he had not put them under his pillow. He had hidden them away in a secret place instead.
‘Who wants fairies crawling around their bed while they’re asleep?’ Max had asked. ‘And what kind of person sells their own teeth?’
Max was no help at all about wobbly teeth, but Charlie’s best friend, Henry, was.
Henry was an expert on teeth. Four of his had come out already. He didn’t care. He liked the gaps. He had pulled all four out himself, and enjoyed doing it. He thought he might be a dentist one day, just for the pleasure of pulling out teeth.
When Charlie’s wobbliest tooth refused to get any more wobbly and it began to look like it really wouldn’t be out for ages (just like Max had said), Henry kindly offered to help speed it up.
‘If you’re really sure you want it out,’ he said.
‘Of course I am!’
‘Well then,’ said Henry. ‘You need a method. In fact, you need The Newly Invented Look At The Lovely View Method.’
‘Do I?’
‘Trust me, I’m an expert,’ said Henry, and Charlie, who knew that in the matter of teeth Henry really was an expert, said, ‘OK.’
Then Henry went home and returned with a reel of dental floss.
Text copyright © Hilary McKay
Illustrations copyright © Sam Hearn
Charlie and the Great Escape was first published in Great Britain in 2007
by Scholastic Children’s Books
Charlie and the Rocket Boy was first published in Great Britain in 2008 by
Scholastic Children’s Books
This bind-up published in 2014 by Hodder Children’s Books
This ebook edition published in 2014
The rights of Hilary McKay and Sam Hearn to be identified as the Author and Illustrator of the Work respectively have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means with prior permission in writing from the publishers or in the case of reprographic production in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency and may not be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 444 91921 9
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