What-the-Dickens

Written by Gregory Maguire, What-the –Dickens is an interesting children’s story about a rogue tooth fairy. 

One night, during a horrendous storm that causes all power to conk out, an uncle tells his nieces and nephew the story of how he was fortunate enough to meet a rogue tooth fairy when he was a child. 

What-the-Dickens is a story within a story, which is an interesting little plot device as it’s very inclusive and causes the reader to feel that they themselves are there on the floor listening to the Uncle tell the story. Written in the third person register, point of view of the observer, the book is a remarkably easy read, one that children form ages eight and up can easily get through in about a week. 

A mere two hundred and ninety five pages long the story follows the birth and adventures of a creature known as a Skibereen who calls himself What-the-Dickens. 

Gregory Maguire has to be my favourite author, but I do prefer his more adult fairy tales rather than his children’s books. 

In closing, making this a very very short review, What-the-Dickens was an original and interesting idea that would capture the imagination of any child, but reading it as an adult, I did find it very easy to plough through. A simple and somewhat mundane book that harbours the occasional quick burst of drama, action, or romance, it’s Gregory Maguire, so it’s worth the read nonetheless.