The Balance Of Wings
Defying tradition, Denteena broke the rule that every tooth fairy followed. She made herself known to the little girl whose baby teeth she was responsible for. How was she to know that this would transform her into another being and trap her in the world of humans? - Rolanda Lyles for Readers’ Favorite
The Balance of Wings by Florence D'Angelo introduces Denteena, a tooth fairy assigned to a little girl, Tori. Denteena waits for Tori to lose a tooth and then takes it to fairyland, but there is something odd about Denteena. Normal tooth fairies enjoy a life of solitude and simply wait for their person to shed teeth. It's just a job, but for Denteena it's much more. She becomes curious about Tori and her home. She explores the house and makes friends with the mice and other animals. Most important of all, Denteena makes contact with Tori by leaving her notes under the pillow. No tooth fairy has ever done that before! Defying tradition, Denteena has broken most of the rules that every tooth fairy follows, and it seems that her curiosity has consequences, as she becomes trapped in their world! What happens to two-dimensional fairies that get stuck in a three-dimensional world?
Words From The Author….
So, some may ask, “What genre does The Balance of Wings fall into?” and at first glance it is clearly a fantasy novel. But if you look further and know some of the background, it is also part biography of an old house, the one I live in, and the characters other than the tooth fairies are my family appearing in scenes that actually happened. Can there be a novel that is a fantastical biography of a house? I suppose yes because The Balance of Wings is in part just that. Surely the book is unique.
My house is about 175 years old and part of the fascination about it is the mystery that lies behind walls during renovations. What person stuffed the towel in there to insulate against the draft? What animal left the cache of uneaten acorns? How old is that mouse skeleton? How did that bat get in there? There are stories there for sure and I drew on those possibilities in writing this story.
It is true that my middle child asked the tooth fairy’s name and, because I love telling ridiculous stories and like to draw, the story of Denteena was born. Some of the exchanged notes between Tori, Sal and Denteena, and Dentonio have survived disposal and these index cards and envelopes with penciled words and illustrations have been saved to savor and laugh about in the future.
Tori challenged me to write our stories down and so I did.
