Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Cookies

March 21, 2007 @ 9:02 pm | Filed under: Books,Picture Book Spotlight

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Jane Dyer.

Credit for discovering this scrumptious morsel of a book goes to my pal Lisa, who read it, loved it, and knew my kids and I would eat it up. And right she was. This charming picture book is an exploration of virtues (and a few vices) as demonstrated by one’s relationship to cookies.

“TRUSTWORTHY means, If you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie.”

“COMPASSIONATE means, Don’t worry, it’s okay, you can have part of my cookie.”

“ENVY means, I can’t stop looking at your cookie out of the corner of my eye—it looks so much better than my cookie. Boy, I wish it were mine and not yours.”

“LOYAL means that even though the new person has a much bigger cookie, I’m sticking by you and your little cookies because you’re my very best friend.”

Sweet, simple, and nourishing: this is the perfect recipe for a picture book. There is much food for discussion here. Really it’s quite an ingenious concept: Beanie, my resident six-year-old, was captivated by this illustration of qualities worth cultivating. We have often talked about ‘cultivating the virtues,’ and I think Cookies made the abstract concepts crystal clear. It also made us hungry. If you’ve given up sweets for Lent, you might want to save this one for the Easter basket.

Tags: Picture Book Spotlight, picture books

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AM says:

We read this right after 17 THINGS I’M NOT ALLOWED TO DO ANYMORE, for an interesting contrast in virtue.
Posted on March 22nd, 2007 at 3:48 am
sarah says:

I have got to check this out!!! I am a huge fan of Jane Dyer. Her illustrations alone make a book worth buying.
Posted on March 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 am
Lisa says:

Hooray! I’m so glad you loved the book!
Posted on March 24th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Jennifer, Snapshot says:

This looks really great! It sounds like one of those books that both of my kids could appreciate–at 8 and almost 3.
Posted on March 24th, 2007 at 2:11 pm

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Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.

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