Night Needs Light, Too! A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

Why does the moon change its shape?

LITTLE STAR'S MAMA LAID THE BIG MOONCAKE ONTO THE SKY TO COOL.

"NOW, LITTLE STAR, CAN YOU REMEMBER NOT TO TOUCH THIS MOONCAKE UNTIL I TELL YOU TO?"

Little Star nods, and she does remember what Mama said--for a while, as she gets ready to climb into bed with her bunny toy. But after a few hours she wakes up. The first thing she sees is the mooncake so near in the sky. It looks so delicious.

WOULD HER MAMA NOTICE IF SHE TOOK JUST A TINY NIBBLE?

Savvy young readers will know where this literary folk tale is going, as night after night, Little Star stealthily nibbles away at the mooncake and it grows smaller and smaller. Ah, but the trail of crumbs leading to Little Star's bed grows bigger and bigger--until one night, when Mama goes to look for her mooncake, it is not there. The sky is empty--and so dark! The culprit is not hard to find.

"MAMA, LET'S GO BAKE ANOTHER ONE!"

And they do, in Grace Lin's acclaimed A Big Mooncake for Little Star (Little, Brown and Company, 2018). There are many folktales about the moon's always changing shape. Some stories say that a dark dragon takes big bites out of the moon nightly, but Lin's version is a far more benevolent origin tale of the phases of the moon, with mother and child making a big new mooncake to light the sky, with a new way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, which author-illustrator Lin says is her favorite holiday. Lin's lovely illustrations earned her the Caldecott Honor Award, and is the perfect companion book to her A Big Bed for Little Snow (see review here).

Says Publishers Weekly, "Lin successfully combines three distinctive and memorable elements: a fable that avoids seeming contrived, a vision of a mother and child living in cozy harmony, and a night kitchen of Sendakian proportions."

Lost Recipe! Cookies for Santa by Johanna Tarkela

It's the week before Christmas. Everyone at the North Pole is getting ready for the big day.

Everyone but SANTA.

Santa is in a funk.

It seems he cannot find his copy of the Kringle Family Cookbook; ergo, he can't make the Chocolate Krinkle Cookies he always gives to his staff--elves, reindeer, mice....

Christmas is canceled!

But meanwhile, in the marginally warmer clime of Boston, U.S.A., there are two kids, Benton and Abigail, out Christmas shopping with their mom, and at Abigail's urging, they stop off at the downtown library to find a Christmas cookie recipe book. Abigail spies a dusty but intriguing old volume and checks it out. The perceptive Abigail quickly figures out that Santa's lost recipe book has somehow found its way to the stacks of the Boston Public Library and that she herself must save Christmas by baking a bodacious batch of Chocolate Krinkle Cookies!

But there's one hitch! The recipe calls for elfin chocolate, an ingredient that no one seems to be selling. For such a culinary question--Who you gonna call?

"I have an idea!" said Mom. "America's Test Kitchens are down the street. They'll know what to do!"

Is that august collection of culinary skills up to the Krinkle Cookie challenge?

It looks as if this will not be The Year Without A Santa Claus after all in Johanna Tarkela's Cookies for Santa: The Story of How Santa's Favorite Cookie Saved Christmas (Sourcebooks, 2019). While this modern version of the evergreen "helping Santa" theme is well retold here, Tarkela's  lively and jolly illustrations really sparkle--lovely, merry, and bright.

Share this one with Phyllis McGinley's heartwarming classic, The Year without a Santa Claus or the tasty top-seller, A World of Cookies for Santa: Follow Santa's Tasty Trip Around the World (see review here).

Santa's Snack! Cookiesaurus Christmas by Amy Fellner Dominy

Santa will be here soon.

Look! The cookie plate is empty!

The big guy should have the best cookie to get him home to the North Pole, and that means me, Cookiesaurus Rex!

Tyrannosaurus Rex is accustomed to being at the top of the food chain, and he believes he and only he should be served up for Santa on his Christmas Eve circuit of deliveries. But when Cookiesaurus plants himself in Santa's plate, he's summarily removed!

It's not fair! Dinosaurs have Christmas spirit, too!

But Cookiesaurus can't seem to convince everyone that there's a place for dinos as Santa's snack. The Baker certainly doesn't seem to think so! He scoops up Star Cookie and plops him onto the plate in place of Cookiesaurus, but Cookie slyly removes him. When Baker gives Bell the spot of honor, Cookiesaurus accidentally on purpose knocks over Santa's glass of milk all over Bell. Sorry, Soggy, old chap!

But Baker has other alternatives more appropriate for Santa's snack. Baker cleans up the mess and this timed his spatula scoops up jolly Gingerbread Boy and drops him on Santa's plate.

Cookiesaurus sulks.

WAIT JUST ONE STINKIN' STOMPIN' MINUTE!

But there is a higher calling in store for this apex raptor cookie on the tree, in Amy Fellner Dominy's and Nate Evans' tempting new holiday tale, Cookiesaurus Christmas (Cookiesaurus Rex) (Disney Hyperion, 2018). Who knew that cookies were rivals for a place on Santa's plate? Authors Dominy and Evans have stirred up a tempting Christmas tale with a happy ending and all the toppings that will likely prompt a bit of  cut-out cookie baking for the family tree. Artist AG Ford follows through with detailed tasty illustrations that add to the fun of the festive season. As Kirkus says, "[this] cheeky dino is full of personality and spunk, and his facial expressions are priceless."

For another funny tale of rivalry between Santa's helpers, share this one with Aaron Blabey's popular, Pig the Elf (Pig the Pug).

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).