George Washington’s Teeth #22
Deborah Chandra & Madeline Comora
Brock Cole, Illustrator

Chandra, D. & Comora, M. (2003). George Washington’s teeth. New York: Farrar Straus
Giroux.

Awards: Parent's Choice; Creative Collaboration in Nonfiction

Grade Level: 1-3

Genre: Narrative

Standards: Social studies: Explains the importance of Americans sharing history of certain values, principles, and belief of historical figures (History Economies)

Science: Health

Content Area: Social Studies; Science

Access Features: Time line of events in George Washington’s life; Time line sources, and acknowledgments

Author’s Credibility: The authors wish to acknowledge the following for their help: Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Mount Vernon National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, The Papers of George Washington Project, and the University of Virginia.

Illustrations: Photographs, oil on canvas, pastel on paper, and oil on panel

Summary: George Washington had a problem with his teeth most of his life. By age twenty-two, he had lost two and almost every year after that he would lose a tooth. He eventually lost all his teeth and the dentist had to make him a set of false teeth.

Tone: Narrative

Voice: Poetic, rhyming

Text Structure: Problem/Solution

Response: This was such a funny book! I enjoyed it. I did not know that George had problems with his teeth. This is the first time I heard of it. I would use this book with my class when we honor George Washington on President’s Day. They would love this book because they could relate to teeth because of their teeth.