Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and finished copy from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Cookie Monsters
Author: Erika J. Kendrick
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 5/5
Diversity: Black MC, Black characters, POC characters
Recommended For…: middle grade readers, contemporary, girl scouts, competition, grief, death, anxiety attacks
Publication Date: January 17, 2023
Genre: MG Contemporary
Age Relevance: 10+ (parental death, cancer, grief, religion, religious trauma, bullying, racism, anxiety attacks, vomit gore)
Explanation of Above: There are mentions of parental death having just happened due to cancer and grief is shown throughout the book with our MC but also other characters. There are a couple of passages regarding the Christian religion and religious trauma, specifically the MC of our story is constantly asking in those passages why God took her mother away and what she did to upset God. There are some scenes with some bullying. There is one scene showing some racism in the book, specifically in which our MC is trying to go door-to-door to ask people to purchase cookies and one of the neighbors threatens to call the cops on her. There are a couple of anxiety attacks shown in the book. There is vomiting mentioned once in the book.
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 320
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Brooklyn Ace is ready to take the Valentine World Scouts by storm and build her own cookie empire. She nearly won the top cookie selling spot last year and is determined to make her mom—who recently passed away—proud by coming in first this time around. With her fabulous best friends by her side, Brooklyn knows she’ll become Santa Monica’s District Cookie Queen. The crown is practically in the bag.
Then Piper Parker arrives.
Piper has a rich dad, a fancy hotel, and a drive to steal the cookie crown right off Brooklyn’s head. Before long, most of the seventh grade is under Piper’s spell. But Brooklyn is in it to win the biggest cookie war the school has ever seen. With the help of her cookie squad, her rockstar grandmother, her super cool therapist, and a lot of self-love and inner growth, maybe—just maybe—Brooklyn can end up a winner after all.
Review: I really liked this read! The book revolves around a girl scout-like competition at a school and our main character’s desire to beat the new student who is swiftly becoming a top cookie seller, all in the name of her late mother whose passion was to help our MC with this cookie competition in years past. The book is a tear jerker and full of great moments where anxiety, religious trauma, and grief are shown and explained. I loved that the book included a therapist character because, unfortunately, therapy is not always an option for everyone, even young children. The book did so well to explain methods of coping and how to handle great anxious moments. I also really liked that the book had a girl scout plot to it. I loved my scout days and this became an instant fave for that fact alone. The book also included period talk a little bit, which I also really loved and love seeing more and more in middle grade novels. The book did excellent with the character development of most characters and the world building was good as well.
The only issue I had with the book is that it felt a little too rushed at the end for me and there were some moments that the pacing was a bit too fast in my opinion. And while I loved that the character writing was a little ambiguous in regards to the characters ethnicities, I was so confused by which girl on the cover was the main character for a little bit. There is one scene where the therapist character compliments our MC on her rainbow shoes, which the blonde character on the cover has… but the MC is described as looking at the rainbow hair inserts and having cornrows, so I know the MC is the girl with the pastel rainbow hair on the cover. Some of the details made me a little confused. I know you shouldn’t completely rely on the cover, but I think that was a little oversight on the cover designers part OR I misread some passages.
Verdict: It was so good! Highly recommend!
Book Info:
Cookie Monsters by Erika J. Kendrick
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Publishing Date: January 17, 2023
Synopsis:
A fun, fast-paced novel about friendship, family, fighting for what’s right, and standing out from the crowd while standing up for yourself.
Twelve-year-old Brooklyn Ace is ready to take the Valentine World Scouts by storm and build her own cookie empire. She nearly won the top cookie selling spot last year and is determined to make her mom—who recently passed away—proud by coming in first this time around. With her fabulous best friends by her side, Brooklyn knows she’ll become Santa Monica’s District Cookie Queen. The crown is practically in the bag.
Then Piper Parker arrives.
Piper has a rich dad, a fancy hotel, and a drive to steal the cookie crown right off Brooklyn’s head. Before long, most of the seventh grade is under Piper’s spell. But Brooklyn is in it to win the biggest cookie war the school has ever seen. With the help of her cookie squad, her rockstar grandmother, her super cool therapist, and a lot of self-love and inner growth, maybe—just maybe—Brooklyn can end up a winner after all.
Book Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60563990-cookie-monsters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cookie-Monsters-Erika-J-Kendrick/dp/0316281484/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cookie-monsters-erika-j-kendrick/1141412017
Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Cookie-Monsters-Erika-J-Kendrick/9780316281485
Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/cookie-monsters/9780316281379-item.html
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316281485
About the Author:
Erika J. Kendrick is an acclaimed writer, a national speaker, and a mental fitness expert. She earned a psychology degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Erika was an NBA cheerleader for the Chicago Bulls before writing her novels, Confessions of a Rookie Cheerleader (Random House) and Appetite (Random House). She is currently touring her debut middle grade novel, Squad Goals, with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The spinoff, Cookie Monsters, is set for a summer 2022 release.
After battling her brain pain, Erika founded Mental Fitness For Life where she launched her latest Mental Fitness book tour, “Who Moved My Happy?” While talking to audiences of all backgrounds and ages, Erika shares her story of brain pain and inspires hope by creating safe spaces for life-saving conversations. She has presented and guest lectured at colleges and universities as well as the US Army and US Air Force, national sororities and fraternities, middle and high schools, conferences, retreats, and national organizations, large and small. Erika has toured with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and is a speaker with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) where she has been inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Erika is a recipient of several “Who’s Who” honors, a Rising Icon honor, and several Awards of Excellence. Erika has taken the stage for TEDx, appeared on Good Morning America – The Third Hour (GMA3), NBC News, CBS News, The Wendy Williams Experience, national television and radio segments, and a host of other media outlets. She has been featured in several publications, including Page Six of The New York Post, The Huffington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and various other magazines and digital media.
Author Links:
Website: http://xoerika.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikajkendrick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikajkendrick/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/152001.Erika_J_Kendrick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erikajkendrick
Tour Schedule:
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