Ned the Tooth Fairy

Well today I lost a tooth. I know -- I'm 12 and I still have more teeth to lose. My teeth are soooooo weird. They take forever to fall out and even longer to grow back in. But today I have a story to tell. It's about a tooth fairy named Ned. Not just any tooth fairy. My tooth fairy.

Shortly after moving to Deerfield in 2001, Jacob lost a tooth. Of course Jacob, Sammy and I were worried that the tooth fairy would not know where to find us. Mom said that a new tooth fairy would take care of us since we lived in a new town. Being curious, as most kids are, we decided we had to find out EVERYTHING we could about the tooth fairy. Sammy and I wrote about a one page note each. Jacob (who HATES to write) wrote FOUR pages of questions! I didn't even know there were that many questions you could ask a tooth fairy. I thought for sure Jacob's questions wouldn't be answered, but sure enough, the next morning there was a note typed back from the tooth fairy and a buck for Jacob. We were soo excited!

The letter answered so much. I don't remember exactly what it said but I do remember some parts. It said: Dear Jacob, My name is Ned and I am a tooth fairy. I am 88 years old. I am a grandpa tooth fairy. I live in a castle made out of teeth. I brush three times a day. As a tooth fairy, there are different levels that you can be on, and I am on the 2nd highest...

Jacob, Sammy, and I were absolutely stunned by this letter. Through losing teeth, we came to love Ned and learn everything we could about him. I was obsessed. I begged Ned to take me to Fairy World with him. I wanted to go so bad. I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone about it, but he always said he couldn't take me. Hmm... I wonder why?

Every time we lost a tooth, we would leave notes under our pillows with the tooth and a plate of carrots and dip on the side. Ned was our Santa Claus. We completely believed everything. We believed up until 5th grade.

Then the unimaginable happened.

Jacob become suspicious about this "Ned" so he came up with a plan. He lost a tooth and decided not to tell Mom or Dad. The next morning at breakfast, Jacob slid his tooth across the kitchen table and said, "Mom, you're the tooth fairy!" When Jacob revealed his devilish plan, Mom finally confessed. Jacob and Sammy were laughing saying, "Haha! We figured it out."

Why was I not laughing at this? Because I was crying. I was full out bawling. I believed in Ned so much. I loved Ned so much. And then I find out it was my mom the whole time? I had never been so upset. And it's not like I'm really gullible. I don't believe in Santa Clause or anything like that. I don't know why I believed in the tooth fairy. I just did. I was so sad and mad at my mom. I said, "How could you do this to me!? You said you would never lie to me, and you have been lying this whole time about Ned!"

Eventually I got over it. I suppose having a mom who is an author should have clued me in to the fact that this might all be made up, but I never suspected a thing. I am still sad that Ned or any other tooth fairy isn't real. Now I think that my mom should write a story about Ned the Tooth Fairy, because I think younger kids would really like it.

By the way, my mom told me she freaked out a little when we believed for sooooo long that Ned was real because she started forgetting what she had made up. We would ask Ned certain questions, and Mom would have to remember what she wrote before so she wouldn't get found out.

Well I just thought I would share that little story with you all today. That's a wrap!

Who's embarrassed now?

A lot of people have been asking, "Does your mom ever mention things in her books that embarrass you?" Well usually she doesn't, but sometimes when I read her drafts I'll say, "Ya nice try Mom. There's no way you're putting that in your book!"

If only she put some of HER embarrassing characteristics in her stories. I mean, if she ever wrote about a mom who does really weird dances randomly throughout the story, tries to use "hip" language, and tries to be "in" with the new styles, that would be a good story. Hmm... maybe I will have to write that. But I love my mom's weirdness. Sometimes it's like, "Seriously Mom. It's gotta go." But sometimes I just laugh and copy her. Some of the time she doesn't even notice when she does her odd little dances or sings painfully out of tune. She just does it.

Another weird fact about my mom is that she sings random phrases. If this were a screenplay, our mornings would go like this:
Faith: Hey Mom, can I have some Fruit Loops and apple juice to drink?
Mom: (Singing badly) YEEEEEEES YOU CAAAAAAAAAN!!! LET'S GO GET THE APPPPPLE JUICE!

Yes, strange, but annoying, no. You gotta love it! So maybe one day she will write a book with a quirky mom, but for now you get to hear it from me.

Before I forget, some other people have been asking if Sammy or I want to be authors ourselves someday. I do enjoy writing but don't do it often because I can never think of good story ideas. Although, last year, I entered the Young Authors competition through my school and won. Sammy tries writing stories for Young Authors but he either A) Starts like 4000 different beginnings of stories and never finishes them or B) Doesn't finish a story because it's 15 pages long and it's supposed to be 5. But I have to give him props considering he writes amazingly in school and some of the best poems I have ever read. YAY SAMMY! I LOVE YOU!

Ok, that ends on a positive note. Thanks everyone for leaving such nice emails and comments!

Secret Details Revealed!

So Granny left a comment asking us some questions. I'll answer them and see if there is anything else to talk about. By the way, thanks for all of the comments and emails!!! Oo I feel like a movie star! Ahh!! Ok so anyways... in Julia's Kitchen, there are a lot of little details in the story that I know where they came from but other people don't. Granny wanted to know what some of those things were. Well Chief Peterson came from local Firefighter Keith Patterson. He comes to the schools sometimes and teaches all that fire safety stuff. It's the same stuff you learn EVERY year but Firefighter Keith makes it really fun. Also, he helped my mom out a lot with the book. Firefighter Keith told her that fires could start from toaster ovens and that they should be unplugged. Did you get that? THEY NEED TO BE UNPLUGGED! Firefighter Keith also helped my mom out with any other questions along those lines. Thanks Firefighter Keith!

In Julia's Kitchen, Cara's dad works for ADF Advertising. ADF are my dad's initials. Go Daddy! It's your birthday! We're gonna party like it's your birthday!

When Cara delivers the cookies for Julia's Kitchen, she brings them to 1414 Baer Avenue. Baer is my mom's sister's last name. They are reallllllllly close. Closer than like... anything I can think of. But you get the point. Anyways, they live at 1414 because 14 is my aunt's favorite number.

In the story, Minnie Rosen also comes from my aunt. Her first name is Micky so it's like Micky, Minnie, woo Disney. So that's where Minnie came from. Also, my aunt used to be dating this guy named Don (short for Donald). So my mom thought it would be funny if Micky and Donald married because they both have Disney names. My mom said she pictured their house being completely decked out in Disney. So that's where the Rosen's house theme comes from.

Also in soon to be published Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinare, there is a lot of stuff that I can relate to because the book is pretty much based on mine and my mom's camp experiences at Camp Birch Knoll. But I will talk about that later on when the book actually comes out. Ok that's all for now!

The First Entry

So this is the very first entry. TA DA! For those of you who don't already know, my mom is Brenda A. Ferber. She's the author of Julia's Kitchen (published in 2006) and Jemma Hartman, Camper Extraordinare (going to be published in March 2009.) I'm sooooooo insanely proud of her. I think it's so cool that I can say my mom is an award winning author. I brag to all of my friends about it. Most of my friends thnk it's really cool, but sometimes my friends say, "Ya Faith. You tell us about your mom and her books every single day. Shut up already!" Ah the love. My friend Z is one of my mom's biggest fans. She did like 3 projects on Julia's Kitchen and is obsessed with my mom. Sometimes I think my mom can be really weird about the characters in her book. I'm sorry. Did I say really weird? I meant reallllllllly weird. Like "come home to your mom crying on the couch because two of the characters in her story got into a fight" weird. Ya no joke. But you gotta love her! So I think that's about enough to start out with. Keep checking back for more posts!

Faith