Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story by Edward Hemingway. PICTURE BOOK. Christy Ottaviano Books (Henry Holt and Company), 2018. $18. 9781627794411
BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
With echoes of The Gingerbread Man, this is the story of a cookie who was snatched and then discarded by a wolf because the wolf doesn’t like the way he tastes. This sends the cookie into a desperate search for his identity and the wolf helps him figure out who he is if he is not delicious. Just as the cookie is losing hope, a group of ornaments exclaims their excitement at finding him and ask him to join them on the tree.
This book is funny, darling, and insightful all at the same time. The search for identity is a fairly unique theme when in the form of a holiday book. The illustrations of an entire town made of holiday treats are inviting and the text reads smooth. The only barrier with this book is if a kid doesn’t know what a salt dough ornament is. That would make the whole point of the story lack any luster.
Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher
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