By: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrated By: Jane Dyer
Publication Date: September 2008
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: December 2008
Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons is exactly what the title implies: one or two sentence lessons children can learn from baking cookies. Each page of this book has one word in large, bold letters followed by an explanation of that word. By using the traditions surrounding the holidays and the process of baking cookies to illustrate each lesson, the book attempts to explain these words at a level young children should understand.
Most of the words and lessons that are taught are well-chosen and the concepts presented are ones all kids should be introduced to. Examples include: “Gracious means putting out a plate for our special guest,” with a picture of a child getting a plate of cookies ready for Santa, and “Family means enjoying our cookies together.” However, some of the words such as ‘Reciprocate,’ ‘Moderation,’ and ‘Perseverance,’ are pretty big words for such young readers and I suspect they may lose interest on these pages. Still, the pictures are charming and may be enough to carry the book through the more difficult word pages.
Quill says: a nice book although it may not hold your child’s attention until the end.