Bookie
& Cookie. By Blanca Gómez. Rocky
Pond Books. $18.99.
An absolutely delightful, very cleverly conceived and well-executed
story with a simple message so charmingly and engagingly presented that it will
make a much bigger impression than more-preachy books on the same topic, Bookie & Cookie is all about two
characters in, yes, a book. In fact, Bookie gets his name from the fact that he
lives on a book page filed with books, while Cookie gets his from the fact that
he lives on a page filled with ingredients for creating, yes, cookies. And as
if that is not already clever enough, Blanca Gómez builds the whole story around
the two characters’ predilections and living spaces – using those to create
conflict that is then resolved using those same
predispositions. And it is all done with thoroughly charming illustrations and
a perfectly paced explanatory narrative that will captivate the target audience
of kids ages 3-7 – and any adults lucky enough to be reading the book with
them.
Gómez presents a world in which Bookie, who lives on the left-hand pages
of the book, always visits his best friend, Cookie, on the right-hand pages
where he lives. The problem crops up
when Bookie invites Cookie to his
left-hand-page home, and Cookie refuses to come because everything is fine just
the way it is and he simply knows he
would not enjoy going somewhere new. The result: estrangement between the best
friends – who quickly discover that lots of things they used to do together are
no fun to do alone. The point here is not a right-or-wrong issue but the fact
that both the friends are unhappy
about their mutual separation, but neither can quite figure out how to get past
their argument and go back to being best buddies again.
Gómez handles the characters’ separation perfectly, showing Bookie
crying despite being in a comfy left-hand-page chair and surrounded by books,
while Cookie is frowning unhappily as he sweeps up some cookie crumbs on the
right-hand-page. Then Cookie has an idea: he will make cookies and entice
Bookie back to the right! In fact, Cookie leans all the way into the middle of
the book to invite Bookie to come have just-baked cookies. But this does not
work, since Bookie – who walks into the spine of the book, getting as close to
the right-hand page as possible without actually going there – insists that
Cookie bring the sweet treats over to the left-hand page. So Cookie’s plan to
reunite fails – but now Bookie has an
idea, grabbing one of his books, which is full of cookie recipes, and deciding
that he will make cookies. And he
does, bringing them right to the center of the book, between the two pages, and
inviting Cookie to try one even though “you don’t like what you don’t know”
(the excuse Cookie had used to avoid visiting Bookie on the left-hand page).
That does it! Cookie walks past the spine of the book onto the left-hand page,
where Bookie has placed the plate of freshly baked cookies on a table for the
two friends to enjoy, and “now Bookie and Cookie are best friends again.” And
they have both learned a lesson about
trying new things, because by the end of the book, they are shown putting on
outerwear and preparing to “go on an adventure together…outside their pages.”
The soft-pedaling of the “try new things” message is perfectly managed by Gómez, as is the establishment of the separate domains of the two characters – Bookie’s with books on shelves everywhere and even stacked on the floor, Cookie’s centered on a kitchen and with wall decorations that say “Cookies” and “Page Sweet Page.” Simply and endearingly drawn, the characters live in an utterly charming world. For example, Bookie at one point reads a book called “Side by Side” while one called “Betsy & Besty” is visible on a shelf. Cookie perpetually wears a white chef’s hat. Also, there is a strange little rounded white creature that looks like a smiling, animated dust ball walking on two tiny legs that pops up sometimes on one page, sometimes on the other, and at one point is marching along carrying a cookie half its own size. Kids (and adults!) will have a great time finding all the little elements that make Bookie & Cookie fun to read again and again – and that help its underlying lesson go down as sweetly and easily as a freshly baked, still-warm-from-the-oven cookie.
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