Biting Off More Than You Can Chew! Tough Cookie by Edward Hemingway

Once upon a time, when Fox was visiting Christmastown....

... All was quite merry and bright with jolly decorations already in sight....

Fox, too, is looking festive, in his red scarf and knit cap. But for Fox the main attraction is not the scenery, nor the greenery bedecking the halls, but the sweet smell of ... goodies.

A little cookie, still warm from the oven, burst out a front door and boasted, "I'm a sweet cookie!"

Cookie teases Fox with the traditional taunt!

"Run, run, as fast as you can!

You can't catch me--I'm the sugar cookie man!"

And the chase is on! Unfortunately, this cookie is not as fast as he thinks he is. Fox soon overtakes him and goes for a bite, but the flavor is not what he expected.

"Blech! You taste awful!"

Fox spits him out and frets that he's fractured a fang on this tough cookie!

Cookie is a bit down, too. His self-image is in question. It turns out he's not a tasty tidbit at all, and he's certainly not fast! But then he discovers exactly what he was shaped for! He's a Christmas tree ornament! He takes his true place high on the town Christmas tree!

In a timely twist on the trim-the-tree tale, this funny fractured fairy tale pokes some fun at the traditional Gingerbread Boy trope in Edward Hemingway's new Christmas offering, Tough Cookie: A Christmas Story (Henry Holt and Company, 2018), even providing recipes for both tasty Christmas cookies and their tree-hanging look-alikes. Adds Publishers Weekly, "Hemingway bakes up a clever case of mistaken identity in this holiday treat–inspired tale. . . The author’s snappy pacing and silly scenarios keep the giggles coming."

Share this one with Laura Murray's and Mike Lowery's The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas (see review here).