All in Just One Cookie

Mmmm! Fresh chocolate chip cookies, warm from the oven, brown at the edges, soft in the middle, oozing with chunks of melty chocolate! Go ahead, take a bite. While you're savoring, give a thought to what's inside this all-American favorite treat. One hungry Vermont cow, two days of hard work from a New Hampshire hen, two cups from a field in Kansas ... wait! One cup of flower seeds from Madagascar? Two cups of West African beans? A teaspoon of the Pacific Ocean? While Grandma makes cookies, her curious cat runs to the encyclopedia, the library, and the Internet to find out the sources of all the ingredients. Grandma's puppy tags along, adding humorous commentary to kitty's research. This unique approach reads like a fun story while presenting an amazing amount of information in appetizing bites. Watercolor illustrations offer a multitude of details to search out on every page. Safety disclaimer: The text warns young readers not to let their own pets have chocolate, which can be harmful to dogs and cats. All in Just One Cookie is accessible to a wide age range. Preschoolers will enjoy the surface story of Grandma baking cookies and the antics of the willful cat and dog. Primary kids will be enthralled by fascinating side stories--such as how baking soda is manufactured from trona, a mineral found in a prehistoric lake bed deep, deep under present-day Wyoming. Equally fascinating are the detailed illustrations, including fossils in the trona deposit and the huge machines used to mine the mineral. Study this unusual picture book at leisure, then try the recipe provided at the end. You'll have a new appreciation for that delicious chocolate chip cookie.

My daughter's book club is made up of 8 first and second graders. I picked this book because first of all - everyone likes cookies, right? Secondly, the information and science behind the ingredients was cool, interesting, and well-explained. The girls got a kick out of reading the different ingredient pages and took turns reading the animals' parts as we made a batch of cookies. Plenty of challenging words for the age group, and everyone learned something new, including the parents.

I love to cook with my kids and my friends' kids, but we never step back to think what went into the ingredients. This cute book is filled with fascinating details about where butter, chocolate and salt come from that will be a delight to share the next time we bake cookies. What a great way to help young people see the broader impact of our daily lives!