photo by pareerica www.flickr.com
*Picture book for preschoolers through third graders, based on a fairy tale
*Sorghum cookie boy as main character
*Rating: Cookie Boy Travelin’ Arkansas is a clever twist on the old tale–”The Gingerbread Man.” Anyone living in or visiting Arkansas will especially love this book!
Short, short summary:
A young couple in Arkansas bake a sorghum cookie boy, who runs away as soon as the oven door is opened. As Cookie Boy rolls down Highway 71 in Arkansas, he meets a deer, whom he tries to convince not to eat him because the people who made him used salt instead of sugar. Little does Cookie Boy realize that deer love salt, but he manages to get away anyway. Along his adventures, Cookie Boy winds up in places such as Clinton at the Chuckwagon Races, the Old State House in Little Rock, and Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. He meets many animals who want to eat him, but he manages to escape until. . .well, you’ll just have to read Cookie Boy Travelin’ Arkansas to find out!So, what do I do with this book?
1. Make sorghum cookies with your children or your students. (Be careful if you make them in the shape of a cookie boy!) 
When you cook with children, they are learning/working on many skills: following directions, reading comprehension, and measurement. You can even ask children to double the recipe to work computations. And learning to bake or cook is a great life skill for anyone! Here are some different sorghum cookie recipe choices from Cooks.com.
2. One thing I love about this book, especially for Arkansas parents and teachers, is the appendix in the back. Cheryl Davis has included all the places she mentions in the book that Cookie Boy visits such as Elkhorn Tavern, Mount Magazine State Park, and the Cossatot River–she gives a description and provides a beautiful photograph. The appendix is like a guide book through Arkansas. Go through this appendix with your students. Take a survey to see how many places your students or children have visited. Plan a field trip to a place mentioned that is fairly close to your school or home. Let older students do further research on each place.
3. Compare and contrast Cookie Boy Travelin’ Arkansas to the original tale of “The Gingerbread Man.” You can use a Venn diagram for your comparisons. Children can also vote on which one of the stories they like better. Older children can write a paragraph about their choice and give reasons to support it. Younger students can fold a piece of paper in half and draw an illustration on each half of a scene from the stories.
There’s still a chance to win Dr. Caron Goode’s book Kids Who See Ghosts by leaving a comment on yesterday’s post (Wednesday, May 26). I also interviewed Dr. Goode, and her answers provide great tips for parents! One winner will be chosen on Friday from all the comments. Thanks!
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