Tough Cookie

by David Wisniewski, 32 pages

Tough Cookie lives in the Jar - a place where cookies live in prosper or poverty depending on their freshness. He grew up with lots of dough but now he finds himself at the bottom of the jar with the crumbs (he calls them friends). When his partner Chips is brutally injured by the town menace, Fingers, Tough Cookie sets out on a mission to stop him. According to the inhabitants of the Jar, "nobody stops Fingers" - but with the help of the crumbs, Tough Cookie just might.

I'll be honest - the whole talking cookies thing and being under the constant threat of death by "Fingers" was kind of unsettling. However, it was a pretty good story and I was intrigued by the cut paper artwork used throughout the entire book. The author did a tremendous amount of work and the result is very successful.

I enjoyed the message that even though the rest of the Jar didn't see much value in the crumbs at the bottom, Tough Cookie knew they were "nice folks" and in the end, they come through for him. The film noir detective satire will be lost on most young ones but the story is still enjoyable.