Who Put the Cookies in the Cookie Jar?

February 4, 2013
“One hand in the cookie jar takes a cookie out./ How many hands put the cookie in is what the world’s about,” writes Shannon (Rabbit’s Gift) in this reminder that it takes a great many people to make what’s in the cookie jar possible. Getting to a delicious cookie means not only those who work in agriculture (farmers, wheat growers, sugar harvesters), but also metal workers who make the cookie sheet, truckers who move the ingredients, and retailers who “stock the shelves when things arrive.” Even the garment worker who sews the oven mitt gets a shoutout (although, curiously, the potter who makes the jar does not). Paschkis’s (Apple Cake) mural-like spreads, with their warm colors and characters who exemplify a rock-solid work ethic and optimistic outlook, bring to mind a WPA aesthetic, with a little Lois Lenski and Virginia Lee Burton for good measure. Shannon and Paschkis present a world that’s flat (in terms of markets and the movement of goods and services) but still friendly. Ages 3–6. Author’s agent: Mary Cummings, Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. Illustrator’s agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt.

February 1, 2013
Shannon and Paschkis provide a charming multicultural answer to the title question, creating in the process a confection that, while it may be most appreciated by socially conscious adults, will tempt young appetites as well. The brief text is composed of rhyming couplets that appear as two phrases on facing pages or as several short sentences across multiple pages or double-page spreads. The actions described may be quite different, but many of the simple sentences start the same way, keeping the focus squarely on the workers and their contributions: "Hands that make the cookie sheet"; "Hands that feed and milk the cow." While some of the locations may seem exotic, the mother and child busy baking in their cozy kitchen will be familiar to many young readers. Paschkis' folk-art-inspired gouache illustrations suit the simple language and the sentiment conveyed perfectly. Brightly colored, graphically appealing cookies on the cover invite readers to sample the story within, while the repeating motifs of sunshine, flowers, birds and butterflies that decorate the cookie jar appear again dancing in the blue sky and decorating the fertile land. Shannon ends with a recipe for sugar cookies, just in case readers are inspired to bake a few themselves. Purposive but pleasing, this gentle lesson in diversity, diligence and the dignity of hard work offers an appealing balance of art and information. (Picture book. 5-9)

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February 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 1-This multicultural twist on the classic "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" looks at the many hands from across the globe that contribute to the making of just one cookie. Paschkis's rich folk-art illustrations show a factory worker making a cookie sheet and indigenous farmers harvesting sugarcane. The simple rhyming text is straightforward for the most part (though none the locales or workers' origins are identified). The tale takes a lyrical turn with, "Hands that clothe and feed them all./Heal and teach./Large and small. Hands that help/the hands that help/are what the world's about...many put the cook in, /so one can take it out." The recipe for sugar cookies will likely make this title the inspiration for a display or lesson about food around the world. An appealing way to introduce the globalization of our food sources for the very young.-Jenna Boles, Washington-Centerville Public Library, OH

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2013
Preschool-G A hand dives into a cookie jar to pull out a treat. But how many hands were needed to put the cookie there in the first place? With a text as simple as the pictures are stylized, this is a charming look at the process. After readers see handsbelonging to a little African American girl and her mommix the dough, the text and art move somewhere completely different, showing a worker making a cookie sheet and another sewing oven mitts. Then, on a farm, hands that feed and milk the cow become hands that churn the butter and guide the plow. All this is portrayed in a sturdy folk-art style that easily mixes birds and flowers with trains and packing cartons. Some children may be confused by the modernity of some scenes followed by others that show farm life from other eras and other places (for instance, a woman grinding her wheat into flour). But then everyonebakers, farmers, workersmeet on a delightful final spread that seems to say there's no need for rhyme or reason, just the pure pleasure of enjoying companyand cookies!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)