The Smart Cookie (Food Group) by Jory John is not my favorite of the Food Books they and Pete Oswald created. With that said, there is nothing wrong with this picture book, I just feel that like, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series, we have gone to the bakery one too many times. Yet, the story of being yourself, and finding your own way of being creative or clever, is nicely illustrated by Oswald’s fun, silly, colorful, detailed illustrations.
The cover tells you all you need to know about the illustrations. They are colorful, busy with details and sugary sweet. They are clever, obviously part of the Food Book series and make you happy. Of course, the adult might find them a bit too sweet, but honestly nothing is wrong with that either. This is a series that has a particular look, and if you have gotten this far in it, the odds are you know what you are getting into. And even if you do not, this is still a good book to start reading.
All ages can enjoy, but a read-aloud would work best for ages five and up. The cleverness of “smart cookie” and other puns might be lost on this age crowd, but it could then work in an older classroom for an English and/or writing class. And the on the older side of “and up” could start to or read solo. Of course, the picture book format might turn them off, but this series does work for the kid with a bit of off beat sense of humor.