Read an Excerpt
Heidi Heckelbeck Says “Cheese!”
Wiggle!
Jiggle!
Jaggle!
Heidi stood on a kitchen chair and looked in the mirror that hung by the back door. Mom used this mirror to put on lipstick before she left the house. Heidi used it to look at her loose tooth.
“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “That tooth is SUPER-loose!”
“Which one is it?” asked Mom.
Heidi turned around on the chair and put her finger on her tooth. “My fwunt one!” she said.
She wiggled it again.
“Wow, that is really loose,” agreed Mom.
“Well, it had better not fall out!” declared Heidi.
Mom looked puzzled. “Why not?”
“Because Picture Day at school is in TWO days,” Heidi said. “And I don’t want a big hole in my smile.”
“Then stop wiggling it,” suggested Mom.
“That’s easy for you to say!” Heidi said, poking her tooth with her tongue.
“Get your mind on something else,” said Mom.
Heidi tried to think about something else. She looked at the ceiling and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Then she sighed.
“It’s no use,” she said. “All I can think about is my loose tooth.”
“Well, I have an idea,” said Mom. “Let’s practice your spelling words.”
Heidi groaned. “Do I have to?”
“It might get your mind off your tooth,” Mom said.
“Well . . . okay,” grumbled Heidi, hopping down from the chair.
Then she pulled her spelling words from the inside pocket of her notebook and handed them to Mom.
Mom looked over the list. “Words that begin with the letter T,” she said as she sat on the couch. “Ready?”
Heidi nodded.
“Treat,” said Mom.
“Treat,” repeated Heidi. “T-R-E-A-T.”
She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels as she spelled.
“Good,” Mom said. “Toad.”
“That’s easy!” Heidi said. “T-O-A-D.”
Mom nodded. “Tooth,” she said.
As soon as Heidi heard the word “tooth,” her tongue went straight to her loose tooth. Then she hopped back onto the chair and looked at her tooth in the mirror.
Mom sighed and laid the spelling words on the table.
