Think back in time to when you were young and had lost your first tooth. The excitement of putting it under your pillow, knowing that the tooth fairy would come and retrieve it and leave you some money in its place. And hoping, against all hope, that somehow you'd know when the tooth fairy came, and might sneak a peek at her as she carried away your tooth.

Emily and James are sister and brother and don't get along that well. But when James disappears, Emily can't help but wonder where he went, and doesn't understand why all of the adults seem to have forgotten he ever existed. The situation continues to worsen, as Emily and her friend Sasha get in trouble with the worst teacher of all, Mr. Rotter and are bullied by some boys who threaten the girls to do their homework. When Emily spends the night at Sasha's house, along with her cat Muffins, the girls ponder what has happened while Sasha readies her tooth which fell out for the tooth fairy. She awakens when the tooth fairy is collecting the tooth and is pulled through the portal with her. And Muffins, who was trying to find something to eat was pulled through the portal, too.

James has landed in the camp of the Candy King and Emily and Muffins have landed on the side of the Tooth Fairies, and the two of them will be drawn into the middle of a war over teeth -- which the fairies need for their magic, and the Candy Creatures need to continue living. Will they fight in the war against each other?

Candy Wars: The Tooth Fairies vs The Candy King is an entertaining read. Cordiner has created a world where tooth fairies live in a castle made of teeth, and where chocolate comes to life in the form of archers. The teacher, Mr. Rotter is aptly named as there is nothing good about him. He really is a caricature, and in this case it works. Kids like to read about scary grown ups who have no redeeming features (just as long as the mean, scary grown up doesn't win in the end. The kids in the book must prevail). And my favorite character in the book was Muffins, the cat. Muffins wanted belly rubs and something to eat... and if it had to be a fairy, so be it. He found out quickly not to stalk a Phoenix with hay fever because it was too easy to get burned.

As a child I think I would have been enthralled by this book and would have overlooked some of the issues I see as an adult. The fairies all had the same personality, and I would have liked to see a little variance in them. I also expected the Queen of the Tooth Fairies to be a bit more impressive. I also would have liked to see a little more character development for Emily and James. This is quite difficult to do in the short number of words the author has to work with when writing for younger audiences, but it can be done. That the candy creatures were not distinguishable one from another didn't bother me at all because they were merely the creations of the Candy King for his own devious desires.

All of the things I mentioned will be forgiven by the target age-group readers and they will enjoy the escapades of Emily and James. Initially when looking at the book I thought the number of pages was well beyond the range of the target readers, however, the length is due to some double spacing of paragraphs throughout, so don't let the page count scare you... it is a faster read than it appears.

Enjoy Candy Wars: The Tooth Fairies vs The Candy King, but don't let the sweet tooth get you.

Originally reviewed for LL Book Review