This is a story
about a little cookie who lives in a great big bakery with very clever and
accomplished colleagues such as croissants, cherry pies and cupcakes. Our Cookie doesn’t have a name or, as it happens, a gender. But they do say ‘AHA!’ a lot, especially when having a lightbulb moment.
The Smart
Cookie is a unique
and rather delightful rumination on the fact that everyone – animal, vegetable,
cookie-al - has some special quality such as a song to sing, a book to write or
a mathematical formula to astound with. And that perfect scores and
precise answers are not the only ingredients for intelligence.
This picture book traces Cookie’s journey from unhappiness in a crowded old cookie jar, to being made to feel valued and courageous when they do take a leap of faith. Of moving out of a personal comfort zone to try something new, even though this is hard and confronting. Happily, for Cookie this experiment works! Cookie feels successful and is also seen as successful by others. Which is always a wonderful thing to be.
From the first-person
voice that warmly greets the reader and invites us directly into the bakery, to
the illustrations which are comprised of scanned watercolour textures and
digital paint, this sweet book speaks directly to the idea of taking a very
deep breath and leaping into the unknown.
With all that’s happening in our big, crazy, wonderful world lately, The Smart Cookie is a timely reminder to value difference, integrity, creativity and courage. And to remember that intelligence isn’t only about book learning – it’s actually a million different things.
Title: The Smart CookieAuthor: Jory John and Pete Oswald
Publisher: HarperCollins, $18.99
Publication Date: 16 March, 2022
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9780063239791
For ages: 4 - 8
