Toothless Charu

Author: Krishnadip Sigdel

Illustrator: Yuwak Shrestha

Translator: Erica Cuellar

When Charu woke up today, one of her teeth felt a little funny.

"Mother, mother!" Charu shouted. "My tooth feels funny and I don't understand why."

Charu's mother looked and said, "Oh, Charu, everything is okay. You just have a loose tooth."

Charu was shocked. "A loose tooth! But I take good care of my teeth. I brush them every day. Why would it be loose?"

“My dear Charu,” Mother explained. “It's not loose because you did not take care of it. Everybody loses teeth when they’re about your age. They’re called 'milk teeth.' A stronger, permanent tooth will grow in its place once your 'milk tooth' is pulled out."

“Pulled out!”

Now Charu was worried.

“Won't that hurt? And it is such nice tooth. Can't I just keep my milk tooth?"

"I know it sounds a little scary," Mother said to Charu. "But I promise it's going to be okay. I had to pull out my milk teeth and so did your father and your brother."

"We'll go to the dentist and you'll see it's not so scary. Your dentists helps lots of kids just like you."

“Okay,” Charu said quietly.

She tried to be brave, but she still felt a little frightened.

Charu’s father went to Barun, Charu’s brother, and explained everything.

“We are taking Charu to the dentist now. Would you like to come?"

“Sorry," Barun said. "I already invited my friends over to come hang out. They'll be here any minute.”

Soon all of Barun’s friends came over.

Roshni brought a skipping rope!

Sonam had a chessboard!

Puja and Narayan even brought over a few books!

Barun asked, “What sort of storybook is that?

“No, it’s not a storybook,” Narayan said, “My aunt left it at my house yesterday. It's a cookbook!"

“Wow!” said Barun excitedly, as he flipped the pages. “It can teach us how to cook.”

Puja asked if she could take a look. “This has recipes to bake cakes, biscuits and cookies,” Puja said.

“Do you think we can really bake something?” Barun asked.

“Why not?” Narayan said. “We just have to follow the instructions and put the right amount of the ingredients in the right order.”

“Let’s bake some biscuits!” Barun suggested.

“What ingredients do we need?” asked Narayan.

Puja held the cookbook in her hand and read aloud, “To make biscuits, we need flour, sugar, milk, ghee or butter and baking powder. Then we mix it all with water and put the mixture in the oven to bake.”

“Oh no!" Barun said. "But we don't have an oven at our home."

“We don’t really need an oven,” said Narayan.

“The other day my aunt baked some biscuits right on the stove, and they were delicious!”

“But how do we do that?” Roshni asked.

“First, you put some sand on the base of a thick metal cooking pot and place the pot over the fire. Then spread the batter (flour mixed with sugar, milk, ghee and baking powder) on a little tray and place the tray in the cooking pot. Cover the pot with a plate and after 10-15 minutes, the biscuits will be ready,” Narayan explained.

They got all the ingredients ready, but Barun couldn't find any baking powder in the kitchen.

He asked his friends, “What does baking powder look like?”

“It is a white-colored powder,” Roshni said.

“Baking powder must be another name for salt,” thought Barun.

Barun added a spoonful of salt to the flour mix.

They all worked together to make the biscuits.

Roshni kneaded the flour into a smooth batter.

Puja rolled out the batter, cut it into pieces and placed them on the tray.

Finally, Narayan placed the tray carefully inside the cooking pot and covered it with a plate.

Everyone was so excited to taste the biscuits!

Sonam thought, "Won't the biscuits bake faster if we make the pot a little hotter? Then we won't have to wait as long."

So he turned up the flame and returned to his friends.

Ten minutes later, the wonderful smell of biscuits wafted through the kitchen. Narayan, Puja, Roshni and Sonam each took a bite.

“What's wrong? Don't you like them?” Barun asked.

"Taste for yourself," his friends replied.

He could hardly swallow it!

"I don't understand," said Barun. "I added the right amount of salt."

"And I turned up the flame so they would bake even faster," said Sonam.

"That's why the biscuits taste sour and burnt," Puja said as she began to giggle.

Just then, Barun’s mother arrived with Charu.

Things did not go well at the dentist. Charu was too scared to let the dentist pull out her tooth and she felt embarrassed.

“So, what are you all up to?" Mother asked. It smells really good in here.”

Barun started to tell her the whole story. “Narayan brought a cookbook over and we tried to make biscuits, but…”

Just then they heard a loud CRUNCH!

Charu couldn't help herself when she saw the biscuits on the table and took a big bite before her brother finished his story.

“Mother, my tooth!” she yelped.

Charu was shocked to see her little milk tooth right in the palm of her hand.

Barun and his friends started to laugh as they explained.

"We didn't make the biscuits quite like the cookbook said. That's why they turned out a little hard."

“What fun!” Mother happily said, “The dentist couldn't even open my daughter's mouth after hours of trying, but these biscuits helped in seconds!"

“We were worried that the biscuits were going to be a waste, but thanks to Charu, they were sort of perfect for today," Barun said as he smiled at his sister.

Just then Charu smiled back with a wide, toothless, grin.

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Story Attribution:

This story:Toothless Charuis translated byErica Cuellar. The © for this translation lies with Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Based on Original story:'थोती', byKrishnadip Sigdel. © Room to Read , 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Other Credits:

This story 'Toothless Charu' has been published on StoryWeaver by Room to Read.

Images Attributions:

Cover page:Children laugh at a girl, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 2:A woman checks a girl's mouth, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 3:A woman and a girl talk, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 4:A girl sits alone, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 5:A woman consoles a girl, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 6:A woman hugs a girl, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 7:A man talks to a boy, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 8:A group of friends read, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 9:Two boys talk, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 10:Children go through a book, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Disclaimer:https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Images Attributions:

Page 11:A girl reads from a book, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 12:Two boys talk on a bed, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 13:A boy explains how to bake on a stove, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 14:Children discuss ingredients, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 15:Children cook together, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 16:Children make different components, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 17:Children discuss with each other, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 18:Children make a face, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 19:A boy eats while children laugh, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 20:A woman talks to a group of children, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 21:A boy shows a book to a woman, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 22:A girl holds her mouth in pain, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Disclaimer:https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Images Attributions:

Page 23:A group of children laugh, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 24:A woman talks with a girl on her lap, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 25:Children sit around a woman, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Page 26:A girl with a missing tooth, byYuwak Shrestha© Room to Read, 2007. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.Disclaimer:https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Toothless Charu (English)

This is the story of a little girl named Charu who is scared of pulling her loose tooth out. Read the story to find out how Charu becomes toothless.

This is a Level 3 book for children who are ready to read on their own.

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