MR. COOKIE BAKER

Mr. Baker’s shop is an inviting place, filled to the gunnels with frosted sugar cookies. Not to forget the chromatic dusting of sprinkles that work on children as the Sirens did on Odysseus’ men. Wellington takes young listeners through the cookie baker’s day making, baking and then selling the goodies. This gives the story its forward motion, but Wellington uses another neat little trick to add a sense of mounting excitement: Each page has a little more color than the one before, a gathering swarm, just like a cookie as it goes from a ball of plain dough through all the stages to become a sweetly colorful enticement. The old-fashioned illustrations, with their two-dimensional and geometric simplicity, add much to the delicious result. (cookie recipes) (Picture book. 2-5)