Cookies for Santa

September 1, 2019
When Santa loses his favorite cookbook, it looks like Christmas might be cancelled. The story is premised on the conceit that Santa's annual Christmas preparations include making Krinkle cookies (recipe included in backmatter) for everyone at the North Pole. Alas, his heirloom cookbook with the recipe is lost, and he's worried "everyone will be disappointed." In an abrupt cutaway to Boston, readers meet Abigail and William, visiting the library with their mother. Unbeknownst to the precocious gourmand Abigail, the cookbook she borrows is the one Santa is missing. How it got to Boston and onto the library's shelves is unclear, but she makes this connection when watching a television broadcast that Santa and Mrs. Claus host annually, and he sadly bemoans the loss of his cookbook. With Christmas just two days away, Abigail's family decides they can't get him the recipe, but they can bake cookies and enlist others' help. America's Test Kitchen, whose offices are conveniently just down the street, helps out--both with discerning some artfully named ingredients and soliciting viewers to also make more cookies for Santa to enjoy and share. It's a happy ending, but Tarkela's illustrations here and elsewhere are stiff and redundant, undermining the book's overall success. Characters' irises are oversized, giving them a distinctly creepy look. Santa and Mrs. Claus present white while Abigail and William seem to be biracial, with an Asian mom and white dad. This sweet story is sadly underbaked. (Picture book. 4-7)

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October 7, 2019
A community steps forward to save Christmas in this cheerful story with a light bookish twist. Each year, Santa makes the same recipe for “deep, dark chocolate cookies with a snow-white exterior: Krinkle Cookies.” Only this year, he can’t find the Kringle family cookbook, and he worries that “everyone will be disappointed” without the traditional treat. Meanwhile, when two Boston siblings visit the library at Christmastime, young recipe enthusiast Abigail discovers an unusual recipe book—none other than Santa’s cherished volume (nevermind how it got there). In this world, Santa and Mrs. Claus make broadcasts “live from the North Pole,” and when it is revealed that the book is missing, Abigail takes action, heading to America’s Test Kitchen to broadcast the recipe so families around the world can make them for Santa. Though the prominent featuring of the Test Kitchen is jarringly self-promotional, the story is a fun concept, and Tarkela’s realistic digital illustration offers the pleasing details of a television studio. A cookie recipe is included. Ages 4–8.