First-grade Teacher Sue Peters Accomplishes Goal Of Getting Children’s Book Published

The Loose Tooth Teacher has published a children’s book about - what else?  – a student with a loose tooth.

Sue Peters’ children’s book - “Katie’s Loose Tooth” – came off the presses earlier this summer, the culmination of a project that began more than 20 years ago for the longtime first-grade teacher at Northeast Elementary School.

“My goal was always to be able to put it in the library before I retired,” Peters said. “So, this year’s my last year so I was like, ‘If I’m going to do this, I need to be doing it (now).’”

Peters, who’s been teaching in Glenwood for 30 years (29 in first grade), actually wrote the book in 2004 but didn’t realize at the time it would be so difficult to get it published.

“I just thought it was going to be a case of I could send it somewhere,’ she said. “I bought a book on how to publish children’s books. I started trying to send it and there was not a single place that would accept a manuscript – ‘We’re not accepting manuscripts.’ So, OK, that was that. It just kind of sat there for the longest time.”

Another issue Peters encountered was finding someone to create the illustrations for her book.

“I needed someone to draw the pictures,” she said. “That was my issue. I could do the words but I couldn’t do the pictures. I thought of different people I knew that might be able to help me, but for different reasons, it never panned out.”

The manuscript was tucked away until last fall when an ad popped up on Peters’ phone for a company called Authors Hike.

“It said, ‘Got an idea for a children’s book, write it here,’ and I did,” she said. “They contacted me right away and I thought it was a scam. I was super skeptical. It was way too easy and way too fast.”

Before sending the company her manuscript, Peters did some research and found out Authors Hike is a legitimate firm that can assist in writing, editing and producing a book. The company could even connect Peters with a illustrator.

Peters signed a contract with Authors Hike in 2024 and the book slowly came together.

“They hooked me up with a project manager,” she said. “I sent in my words and they would send me probably three layouts at a time to go along with the words. From there, they would just create in their head what they thought went with he words. Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn’t.”

The story is based in Glenwood and Northeast Elementary School but some tmes the illustrations didn’t jive with what Peters wanted. She wanted the illustrations to depict a small rural community like Glenwood, but some of the drawings had more of a big city, urban feel. In one case, the background buildings looked like a European villa and in another drawing the first graders were wearing trench coats.

“I told them, no first grader wears a trench coat. Just have them wearing a regular hoodie sweatshirt,” she said. “The background in the the little town looked more like a European villa with flowers hanging. We live in a small town in Iowa. We just need regular houses in the background – no villas.

“I wanted Northeast to look like Northeast. I snapped a picture of it one day because what they had looked like something in New York City – a big brownstone with big steps going up. I sent the picture in and they did a really good job of trying to make it look like Northeast. ”

The book was originally published in a vertical “portrait” style, which resulted in faces being separated in the gutter of the book. At the request of Peters, the layout was changed to a horizontal “landscape” style.

“The portrait style looked terrible, especially the little girl,” Peters said. “She looked like she was in a fun house mirror.”

Peters said the book includes subtle nods to Glenwood and Northeast Elementary – a teacher wearing a Northeast T-shirt and a school bus with “Glenwood” on the side. There’s even a depiction of Peters’ husband Craig wearing his signature

Hawaiian shirt and a bus driver named Charlie, in honor of the late Charlie Anderson.

“When my kids were in school, Charlie Anderson was their favorite driver, so I put Charlie in the book.” Peters noted. “He was our bus driver.”

Some of the names of children in the book also happen to be the names of Peters’ own children – Katie, Seth and Jace – and some of her former first-grade students from 2004 – Turner and Andy.

The teacher in the book, known for helping students pull their loose teeth, is based on Peters’ reputation as the “loose tooth teacher.”

“This is the story about the teacher at Northeast, although her name is Miss Ruth in the book because it rhymes with tooth,” Peters said.

Peters said she became the “loose tooth teacher” out of necessity.

“(At that age) they lose a lot teeth,” she said. “So, when a first-grader has a tooth that is loose, that is kind of all they can think about and usually the people that sit at their table. That’s all they can think about, too, because they’re wiggling it.

“If it’s super loose, I’m like, ‘Let me help you with that.’ I just pull it out and we move on. That’s how it started. I’m not grossed out by it at all – most teachers are. It became known after moving to Glenwood that I pull teeth. I was like a dentist.”

Peters hasn’t kept count of how many loose teeth she’s removed over the past 30 years, but it’s probably in the hundreds. It’s not uncommon for students from other classrooms to come to her for a loose tooth extraction.

“One time a kid comes in and said she had a loose tooth,” Peters recalled. “After I pulled the tooth, she said ‘You pulled the wrong one.’ I asked her if she wanted me to pull the other one and she said, ‘No!’ She was done with me.”

Peters said she’s pleasantly surprised by the number of positive comments and message she’s received since the book became available earlier this summer. She’s heard from friends and colleagues who have bought the book through the Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites. Both companies offer paperback and “Kindle” versions of the book and Barnes and Noble offers a hardback copy.

The book is also available in the Glenwood Public Library and the libraries at Northeast and West Elementary Schools.

“My goal was to get it in the library here at school so that my story would still be here when I’m gone,” Peters said. “Eventually, nobody’s going to know who Mrs. Peters is because I’ll be gone and there will be a new group. The older kids will remember for awhile but ones coming in will have no idea.”