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Cookie Monsters
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.
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.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 17, 2023
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2167 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 7, 2023
Hi everyone... So, right after I finished my review of What Happened to Rachel Riley I started this book and I know it's almost ten (kind of past my bedtime now that I'm in school) and I know that I got ticked off by the meager reviews of the book and just UGH!!
Anywayyyy... I don't think I'll be reading this book right now! I can't BELIEVE it says middle-grade this book is so simple and cheesy and fake (I mean NOBODY HAS FIVE FRIENDS THERE WITH THEM AND THEN THEY START DRAMATICALLY HYPERVENTILATING AND THEIR FRIENDS START A CHANT AND THEY MAKE A CHEERLEADER DANCE FOR THEM... AND THEN THE MAIN CHARACTER WHO IS BEING TREATED LIKE A BABY STARTS TO SPONTANEOUSLY SNIFFLE AND THE FIVE FRIENDS ARE THERE RUBBING HER BACK AND TELLING THE MEAN GIRL PIPER, WHO IS SO FAKE TBH, OFF!!) This WHOLE thing is like a bad movie for kids that are like 9 or smth...
THE TROPES ARE SO FAKE AND SO BAD! the writing style is good but i just wish the characters could be good and relatable too...
OVERALL: hated it
byeeeeee
Anywayyyy... I don't think I'll be reading this book right now! I can't BELIEVE it says middle-grade this book is so simple and cheesy and fake (I mean NOBODY HAS FIVE FRIENDS THERE WITH THEM AND THEN THEY START DRAMATICALLY HYPERVENTILATING AND THEIR FRIENDS START A CHANT AND THEY MAKE A CHEERLEADER DANCE FOR THEM... AND THEN THE MAIN CHARACTER WHO IS BEING TREATED LIKE A BABY STARTS TO SPONTANEOUSLY SNIFFLE AND THE FIVE FRIENDS ARE THERE RUBBING HER BACK AND TELLING THE MEAN GIRL PIPER, WHO IS SO FAKE TBH, OFF!!) This WHOLE thing is like a bad movie for kids that are like 9 or smth...
THE TROPES ARE SO FAKE AND SO BAD! the writing style is good but i just wish the characters could be good and relatable too...
OVERALL: hated it
byeeeeee
November 15, 2022
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this sequel to Squad Goals, we shift attention from Magic to her friend Brooklyn. Brookyln is a World Scout whose mother has recently passed away. She lives with her father and her grandmother Betty Jean, and is determined to keep up her mother's interest in the annual cookie sale going. Last year, with her mother's help, she came in second. Now that the high schooler who came in first has graduated, Brooklyn has great hopes for winning the Santa Monica district title, but is thwarted by newcomer Piper Parker who employs underhanded tactics like poaching Brooklyn's traditional customers in her own neighborhood. Armed with her mother's binder of procedures and phone numbers of previous customers, as well as the help of the HoneyBee cheerleaders, Brooklyn works hard to see cookies while also processing her grief about her mother, for which she is seeing a therapist. Will it be enough for her to outsell the nasty Parker and contine her mother's legacy?
Strengths: Brooklyn is an outspoken character who has a firm grasp on her goals. Her grief over her mother is handled well; she's connecting with her grandmother, getting therapy, and has a supportive group of friends who are helping her to have goals and activities to help her move forward. Piper is a standard villain from whom Brooklyn could learn some tactics, and there's just enough cheerleading to keep fans of the first book interested.
Weaknesses: Like books about school elections, this didn't resonate with me personally because I can't image my school ever holding assemblies for a scouting group's cookie sales. It's not even something I've ever heard of, although it is an interesting concept, like the Cadet Corps in Varian Johnson's Twins, or the dance and etiquette classes that come up from time to time.
What I really think: This is a good purchase if Squad Goals has done well in your library or there is a culture of cookie sales. There's plenty of friend drama, and this could stand alone as a title without the first book. The cover is great!
In this sequel to Squad Goals, we shift attention from Magic to her friend Brooklyn. Brookyln is a World Scout whose mother has recently passed away. She lives with her father and her grandmother Betty Jean, and is determined to keep up her mother's interest in the annual cookie sale going. Last year, with her mother's help, she came in second. Now that the high schooler who came in first has graduated, Brooklyn has great hopes for winning the Santa Monica district title, but is thwarted by newcomer Piper Parker who employs underhanded tactics like poaching Brooklyn's traditional customers in her own neighborhood. Armed with her mother's binder of procedures and phone numbers of previous customers, as well as the help of the HoneyBee cheerleaders, Brooklyn works hard to see cookies while also processing her grief about her mother, for which she is seeing a therapist. Will it be enough for her to outsell the nasty Parker and contine her mother's legacy?
Strengths: Brooklyn is an outspoken character who has a firm grasp on her goals. Her grief over her mother is handled well; she's connecting with her grandmother, getting therapy, and has a supportive group of friends who are helping her to have goals and activities to help her move forward. Piper is a standard villain from whom Brooklyn could learn some tactics, and there's just enough cheerleading to keep fans of the first book interested.
Weaknesses: Like books about school elections, this didn't resonate with me personally because I can't image my school ever holding assemblies for a scouting group's cookie sales. It's not even something I've ever heard of, although it is an interesting concept, like the Cadet Corps in Varian Johnson's Twins, or the dance and etiquette classes that come up from time to time.
What I really think: This is a good purchase if Squad Goals has done well in your library or there is a culture of cookie sales. There's plenty of friend drama, and this could stand alone as a title without the first book. The cover is great!
February 23, 2024
Spoilers in this review big and small - Yes, I do spoil how the competition concludes. Read as you wish.
I was unbelievably disappointed by this book. I adored Squad Goals. It was one of my favorite middle grades last year and I'd argue it is one of the best middle grade books out there, in general. The reason for my exceedingly high regard was the realism. I won’t spoil it here since this is a companion novel not a sequel so there can be no assumed expectation that you have read that one first, but if you read my review for Squad Goals then you can see specifically what I am referring to.
While Squad Goals was cheesy at times and could be somewhat saccharine, this book was sweetness on maximum overdrive. Every single conversation was so toothless. Nobody was allowed to be in conflict with one another for more than a page, if that. People rarely raised opposition to Brooklyn or each other for that matter. It resulted in relationships that felt phony.
Friends will naturally get along, of course. That’s why they’re friends. But, the moment Lucy would say something kind of shady or snarky (it was always Lucy because that was her signature character trait and no one else was allowed to say the ‘wrong’ thing) the overblown, heavy handed piling on of put-ups and compliments was ridiculous. They acted as if she said she wished their dog was dead when her comment would be shortsighted or oblivious at best.
Since it was established early on she was learning I found it frustrating that rather than lean into that by making her actively mean or close minded before realizing the full impact of her words, she was side-eyed for minor infractions. It felt like instead of fully grappling with the difficulty that can stem from a friend that struggles to empathize with mental health issues because they themselves do not have them, it only went through the motions.
It did not help that in these moments the other girls seemed to be simply cycling through a list of ‘what to do if a friend expresses X to you’. I understand modeling certain behavior for the intended demographic. It’s something I usually enjoy as it’s a great way to help a kid who might be living in similar circumstances understand the proper way to handle a situation or not normalize unhealthy conditions. That said, it reached a point where this book did not feel authentic in its dialogue. They no longer felt like kids, but like vessels for the messaging. Particularly since they never disagreed about anything even when there were five different perspectives to contend with.
After making sure that Piper would be viewed like an irredeemable villain, Kendrick suddenly pulls out the sad backstory on page 235 about how Piper’s dad is really hard on her and isn’t proud of her unless she wins.
One, Piper is not a true character, she’s simply an antagonistic force so this came out of nowhere. Two, I truly could not care less that her father is hard on her when she’s saying things like “They’d never respond to a nobody like you anyway” to a girl who is only a year out from her mothers’ passing and has been barely holding on in the face of this new wave of grief. Three, Piper never even apologizes. When she relays her sad backstory it is literally half a page long explanation. But, as everyone should know an explanation without change or action is just an excuse. Kendrick completely flips the narrative she has spent over 200 pages building up to force a totally undeserved, undercooked redemption for Piper.
On the same page, in the same conversation Piper is like ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me’ as some sort of dig at Brooklyn for making assumptions about her, but that line only works if they were mean to Piper when she first showed up at the school. They never were. Piper is the one who came out swinging immediately.
Then two pages later Brooklyn randomly is like ‘Piper isn’t so bad’ to her friends which no one even follows up on either because there is no reasonable explanation for why Brooklyn would think that when Piper only expressed her perspective without doing anything to make any kind of amends.
Feeling empathy for another person even if they have treated you poorly is fine, however, that should not blind you to the fact that there is no justification for treating you poorly. Piper is still that bad even if she does have a sad backstory. Empathy for her is independent of that fact.
The end of the book is hollow because Brooklyn is sacrificed in favor of Piper’s random arc.
Piper wins the cookie competition. Brooklyn makes this big, sweet speech about what the competition meant to her and thanks Piper for pushing her to do her best. She tells Piper she’s sure her dad will be proud of her. Piper keeps half the prize, but let’s Brooklyn take the London trip to help the underprivileged.
If Piper was just going to give away the trip, then why not simply let Brooklyn win and give Piper the other half of the trip? The only reason to do it this way is because if it were switched around, it wouldn't make Piper look good.
Why not make Piper a rival instead of an outright villain? Make Brooklyn’s squad be on the defense about Piper leading them to making a mistake about her. Then I wouldn’t be so annoyed that she won because this would be a story about Brooklyn losing sight of honoring her mother in favor of preserving her reputation as ‘cookie queen’.
Or actually depict Piper’s dad piling pressure on her on the page. It would parallel Lucy’s parents’ misguided expectations for her and Lyric’s mother storyline about her mother not being present enough in her life. I’d feel more sympathy for her if there was evidence of how he treated her. Piper’s assessment of her father can't be taken as gospel. All kids assume their parents won’t understand; whether or not that’s a credible assertion can be up in the air. Both Lyric and Lucy’s arcs are about finding the courage to tell their parent’s something important. It’s weird that Piper’s thread is left hanging when her problem is the same as theirs.
Lyric’s mother is a huge superstar singer on tour. Lyric feels like the music is all that matters in her mothers’ life. She texts her several times to try to promote a song the troop made to help Brooklyn sell more cookies. Her mother pretty much ignores her. I thought this was poorly done as it became too repetitive. Once she texted a couple times every other page would be the characters asking if she’d responded yet. Not only was it rude because it was constantly reopening a wound about how Lyric’s mother doesn’t care about her, it was annoying because if she had posted about it they certainly would know so why waste sentences on it over and over?
I thought the plot point would have been a lot stronger if it built to some kind of tangible conflict like Lyric pretending to text her mom, but not really doing it because she thought she’d be a bother to her thereby disappointing everyone.
Also it was a completely made up problem that Lyric’s mother wasn’t posting about Brooklyn’s cookie selling, when her good friend Magic was all over this book and her father is a famous former basketball player and her mother a famous former professional cheerleader. Why not ask them to post about her cookie selling? Or ask them to pass her onto their surely famous friends and colleagues who would drop a bundle purely because they were asking? It bugged me the entire book because I could come up with reasons why her parents might not do it or why Magic would not ask them or why Brooklyn might not ask that of Magic, but instead of providing a reason the book just pretends Magic doesn’t have famous parents too.
The contest was oddly constructed. Brooklyn and Piper were battling to be the top seller yet they were allowed to absorb their other troop members’ sales too? Like that didn’t seem fair to the other three girls in the Top 5 who seemingly were independent. Piper at one point was stated to have like half the school selling for her so they apparently didn’t even have to be official World Scouts.
There was never a sense of scale to the contest either. They lived in Santa Monica which has a population of almost 100,000 people yet it felt like one suburb and one main street was sold out and Brooklyn was throwing up her hands. They never seemed to have any designated areas so I wasn’t sure why Brooklyn didn’t simply drive further outside of her bounds to sell more or even go to another city nearby when Piper kept blocking her. They were allowed to get random sales from all over the world on the Internet so that shouldn’t have been a problem.
Bottom line, Squad Goals is total goals; Cookie Monsters not-so-much.
(P.S. I would bet $100 that Piper is going to be a protagonist or prominent support character in a new book and that’s why she needed to be saved at the expense of Brooklyn)
I was unbelievably disappointed by this book. I adored Squad Goals. It was one of my favorite middle grades last year and I'd argue it is one of the best middle grade books out there, in general. The reason for my exceedingly high regard was the realism. I won’t spoil it here since this is a companion novel not a sequel so there can be no assumed expectation that you have read that one first, but if you read my review for Squad Goals then you can see specifically what I am referring to.
While Squad Goals was cheesy at times and could be somewhat saccharine, this book was sweetness on maximum overdrive. Every single conversation was so toothless. Nobody was allowed to be in conflict with one another for more than a page, if that. People rarely raised opposition to Brooklyn or each other for that matter. It resulted in relationships that felt phony.
Friends will naturally get along, of course. That’s why they’re friends. But, the moment Lucy would say something kind of shady or snarky (it was always Lucy because that was her signature character trait and no one else was allowed to say the ‘wrong’ thing) the overblown, heavy handed piling on of put-ups and compliments was ridiculous. They acted as if she said she wished their dog was dead when her comment would be shortsighted or oblivious at best.
Since it was established early on she was learning I found it frustrating that rather than lean into that by making her actively mean or close minded before realizing the full impact of her words, she was side-eyed for minor infractions. It felt like instead of fully grappling with the difficulty that can stem from a friend that struggles to empathize with mental health issues because they themselves do not have them, it only went through the motions.
It did not help that in these moments the other girls seemed to be simply cycling through a list of ‘what to do if a friend expresses X to you’. I understand modeling certain behavior for the intended demographic. It’s something I usually enjoy as it’s a great way to help a kid who might be living in similar circumstances understand the proper way to handle a situation or not normalize unhealthy conditions. That said, it reached a point where this book did not feel authentic in its dialogue. They no longer felt like kids, but like vessels for the messaging. Particularly since they never disagreed about anything even when there were five different perspectives to contend with.
After making sure that Piper would be viewed like an irredeemable villain, Kendrick suddenly pulls out the sad backstory on page 235 about how Piper’s dad is really hard on her and isn’t proud of her unless she wins.
One, Piper is not a true character, she’s simply an antagonistic force so this came out of nowhere. Two, I truly could not care less that her father is hard on her when she’s saying things like “They’d never respond to a nobody like you anyway” to a girl who is only a year out from her mothers’ passing and has been barely holding on in the face of this new wave of grief. Three, Piper never even apologizes. When she relays her sad backstory it is literally half a page long explanation. But, as everyone should know an explanation without change or action is just an excuse. Kendrick completely flips the narrative she has spent over 200 pages building up to force a totally undeserved, undercooked redemption for Piper.
On the same page, in the same conversation Piper is like ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me’ as some sort of dig at Brooklyn for making assumptions about her, but that line only works if they were mean to Piper when she first showed up at the school. They never were. Piper is the one who came out swinging immediately.
Then two pages later Brooklyn randomly is like ‘Piper isn’t so bad’ to her friends which no one even follows up on either because there is no reasonable explanation for why Brooklyn would think that when Piper only expressed her perspective without doing anything to make any kind of amends.
Feeling empathy for another person even if they have treated you poorly is fine, however, that should not blind you to the fact that there is no justification for treating you poorly. Piper is still that bad even if she does have a sad backstory. Empathy for her is independent of that fact.
The end of the book is hollow because Brooklyn is sacrificed in favor of Piper’s random arc.
Piper wins the cookie competition. Brooklyn makes this big, sweet speech about what the competition meant to her and thanks Piper for pushing her to do her best. She tells Piper she’s sure her dad will be proud of her. Piper keeps half the prize, but let’s Brooklyn take the London trip to help the underprivileged.
If Piper was just going to give away the trip, then why not simply let Brooklyn win and give Piper the other half of the trip? The only reason to do it this way is because if it were switched around, it wouldn't make Piper look good.
Why not make Piper a rival instead of an outright villain? Make Brooklyn’s squad be on the defense about Piper leading them to making a mistake about her. Then I wouldn’t be so annoyed that she won because this would be a story about Brooklyn losing sight of honoring her mother in favor of preserving her reputation as ‘cookie queen’.
Or actually depict Piper’s dad piling pressure on her on the page. It would parallel Lucy’s parents’ misguided expectations for her and Lyric’s mother storyline about her mother not being present enough in her life. I’d feel more sympathy for her if there was evidence of how he treated her. Piper’s assessment of her father can't be taken as gospel. All kids assume their parents won’t understand; whether or not that’s a credible assertion can be up in the air. Both Lyric and Lucy’s arcs are about finding the courage to tell their parent’s something important. It’s weird that Piper’s thread is left hanging when her problem is the same as theirs.
Lyric’s mother is a huge superstar singer on tour. Lyric feels like the music is all that matters in her mothers’ life. She texts her several times to try to promote a song the troop made to help Brooklyn sell more cookies. Her mother pretty much ignores her. I thought this was poorly done as it became too repetitive. Once she texted a couple times every other page would be the characters asking if she’d responded yet. Not only was it rude because it was constantly reopening a wound about how Lyric’s mother doesn’t care about her, it was annoying because if she had posted about it they certainly would know so why waste sentences on it over and over?
I thought the plot point would have been a lot stronger if it built to some kind of tangible conflict like Lyric pretending to text her mom, but not really doing it because she thought she’d be a bother to her thereby disappointing everyone.
Also it was a completely made up problem that Lyric’s mother wasn’t posting about Brooklyn’s cookie selling, when her good friend Magic was all over this book and her father is a famous former basketball player and her mother a famous former professional cheerleader. Why not ask them to post about her cookie selling? Or ask them to pass her onto their surely famous friends and colleagues who would drop a bundle purely because they were asking? It bugged me the entire book because I could come up with reasons why her parents might not do it or why Magic would not ask them or why Brooklyn might not ask that of Magic, but instead of providing a reason the book just pretends Magic doesn’t have famous parents too.
The contest was oddly constructed. Brooklyn and Piper were battling to be the top seller yet they were allowed to absorb their other troop members’ sales too? Like that didn’t seem fair to the other three girls in the Top 5 who seemingly were independent. Piper at one point was stated to have like half the school selling for her so they apparently didn’t even have to be official World Scouts.
There was never a sense of scale to the contest either. They lived in Santa Monica which has a population of almost 100,000 people yet it felt like one suburb and one main street was sold out and Brooklyn was throwing up her hands. They never seemed to have any designated areas so I wasn’t sure why Brooklyn didn’t simply drive further outside of her bounds to sell more or even go to another city nearby when Piper kept blocking her. They were allowed to get random sales from all over the world on the Internet so that shouldn’t have been a problem.
Bottom line, Squad Goals is total goals; Cookie Monsters not-so-much.
(P.S. I would bet $100 that Piper is going to be a protagonist or prominent support character in a new book and that’s why she needed to be saved at the expense of Brooklyn)
Want to read
September 9, 2025⚠️ Companion sequel to Squad Goals
March 14, 2024
Meh,
This is why kids today don't like reading. A bunch of words, they make sense, but it's just not really a story. It's like you are always aware you are just reading a story. I never really got drawn into it.
Very dissapointed.
This is why kids today don't like reading. A bunch of words, they make sense, but it's just not really a story. It's like you are always aware you are just reading a story. I never really got drawn into it.
Very dissapointed.
January 19, 2023
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: 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!
January 20, 2023
Within its exciting cookie sales campaign plot, Cookie Monsters also delivers a warm and wonderful story of recovery after the loss of a loved one.
Cookie Monsters is a warm and poignant story about a twelve-year-old’s struggle with grief and its toll on her mental well-being, as well as an exciting and tense battle to sell the most cookies. Brooklyn is cool, popular, wholesome, and very much a regular pre-teen. From the outside, she appears to be coping well with her mother’s death but inside, she is drowning in pent-up emotions. She is surrounded by a supportive circle of girlfriends and has a loving father and grandmother at home, who are also dealing with their own grief. But as the results of Brooklyn’s loss visibly begin to affect her ability to function, she reaches out and accepts professional help and makes progress on dealing with her feelings. The story also reveals that her friends are dealing with their own difficulties, and Brooklyn is able to share her experiences and help get them on a path to communicating their needs with their own families.
The story is also about a very competitive race to sell the most cookies. Brooklyn’s nemesis, Piper Parker, pulls a couple of rabbits out of her hat, using her father’s business resources and wealth and promising incentives (bribes) to their fellow students to buy her cookies rather than Brooklyn’s. Although Brooklyn cries foul at all of Piper’s strategies, and some were definitely shady moves, frankly, Piper just had a better sales plan and executed it better than Brooklyn did (which Brooklyn slowly comes to recognize.)Brooklyn’s scout squad is a wonderful mix of different personalities, each with their own strengths that they bring to their friendship and the campaign. Young readers will surely relate to one or more of these great characters and the individual issues they are facing in their lives. I enjoyed this group of girls so much.
The writing and pace of the story are absolutely flawless. I was completely drawn into the story and emotionally invested; I teared up a couple of times while reading, especially when she was making a breakthrough with her therapist. I know I’ll be thinking about Brooklyn’s tale for quite a while; I was that affected. Cookie Monsters would make an excellent read-aloud selection.With its important messages nestled within an exciting cookie campaign plot, I recommend COOKIE MONSTERS to young readers who have experienced their own loss of someone close to them.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author or publisher through TBR and Beyond Book Tours.
April 25, 2023
3.5 stars
Brooklyn Ace isn't the same since her mom passed away. She freezes when she's about to make a speech to the whole school, she cries when life gets too overwhelming, and she needs a lot more support from her friends, family, and therapist. All of that makes Cookie Monsters an engaging and realistic read that adds to the competition for cookie-selling dominance.
Brooklyn is dealing with anxiety and needs extra support which she is always given. It was nice to read such positivity in this story that revolved around a friendship group. Although very unrealistic support came from famous people on social media it added to the story's fast-paced drama-filled plot.
Piper Parker is new in town and she wants the Cookie Queen title. She's always in the top spot while Brooklyn continually inches closer and closer to her #1 rank. She is the quintessential mean girl with her motives eventually laid out. However, I think having either a dual POV or more time with Piper would have made her reasoning of being as ruthless as she was more impactful.
I would recommend this first and foremost to any Girl Scouts. Then this would be perfect for all the girls looking for books with drama. I know technically readers look for friend drama (the friends go through their own turmoil but within their families not in the friendship group) but I think this is a better alternative that is still fast-paced, dramatic, and with big emotions impacting the story.
You don't need to read Squad Goals first before reading Cookie Monsters but since they are set in the same world, readers who like one may like the other.
Brooklyn Ace isn't the same since her mom passed away. She freezes when she's about to make a speech to the whole school, she cries when life gets too overwhelming, and she needs a lot more support from her friends, family, and therapist. All of that makes Cookie Monsters an engaging and realistic read that adds to the competition for cookie-selling dominance.
Brooklyn is dealing with anxiety and needs extra support which she is always given. It was nice to read such positivity in this story that revolved around a friendship group. Although very unrealistic support came from famous people on social media it added to the story's fast-paced drama-filled plot.
Piper Parker is new in town and she wants the Cookie Queen title. She's always in the top spot while Brooklyn continually inches closer and closer to her #1 rank. She is the quintessential mean girl with her motives eventually laid out. However, I think having either a dual POV or more time with Piper would have made her reasoning of being as ruthless as she was more impactful.
I would recommend this first and foremost to any Girl Scouts. Then this would be perfect for all the girls looking for books with drama. I know technically readers look for friend drama (the friends go through their own turmoil but within their families not in the friendship group) but I think this is a better alternative that is still fast-paced, dramatic, and with big emotions impacting the story.
You don't need to read Squad Goals first before reading Cookie Monsters but since they are set in the same world, readers who like one may like the other.
November 6, 2023
Brooklyn is still learning how to navigate the world after losing her mother to cancer. As the World Scouts cookie competition heats up, she realizes just how involved her mom was with her cookie troop and the annual cookie sale. When a new competitor threatens to outsell her, she realizes she still has a lot of processing to do. With the help of her friends and family and a supportive therapist, she starts to deal with her anxiety and learns that maybe there is more to school and life than selling the most cookies.
December 6, 2022
As a former Girl Scout, I absolutely loved the cookie sales! Brookie and her friends went above and beyond to sell those cookies and I'm forever impressed. I also loved the messages on mental health and dealing with grief. This book tackles such big subjects in ways that felt approachable for younger readers, and will probably be very helpful for kids going through similar things.
January 16, 2023
This was such a cute book. I think that my 5th-grade girls would love it. It's kinda emotional about a 12-year-old that's dealing with the loss of her mother but she has the help of her best friends and loving family.
October 25, 2022
Really super cute book. A great introduction to understanding mental health for middle graders.
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December 17, 2022I'm leaving this as a DNF for the moment. I can't get into the characters, nor connect with them (even though I totally get the whole cookie competition, coming from a fellow Girl Guide here)
September 13, 2023
Fun, escapist early middle grade readin.
January 14, 2024
Good book for kids to learn about sportsmanship and who are your real friends and who are the fake ones.
January 21, 2025
Great book to start or continue conversations about preteen grief, competition, mental health, and resolutions.
April 29, 2025
Such a good book about overcoming challenges of stress. The fight to the finish for the cookie war is drool worthy.
January 21, 2023
Click here to see my bookstagram tour stop for this book :) It's one of my favorite pictures I've taken!
This is an inclusive, therapy-positive story about grief, friendship, and cookies. And the thrills of competition, even when it's not going the way you'd like. A really good pick for the kiddos in your life!
This is an inclusive, therapy-positive story about grief, friendship, and cookies. And the thrills of competition, even when it's not going the way you'd like. A really good pick for the kiddos in your life!
February 3, 2023
It was great to get into this book after reading a heavier one! I was never in the Girl Scouts so reading about Brooklyn trying to be the number one salesperson in Santa Monica now that her biggest competition has graduated was just what I needed. Though this is geared towards a younger audience, I loved how the author talked about loss, grief and mental health. She handled it beautifully. Described clearly and without stigma, I feel like she normalized such topics in a helpful manner. And not just for young readers; adults can benefit as well!
Favorite lines:
✨ “It’s okay to be scared, you know. Talking about your feelings isn’t always easy. But I’m here to help with that. And whatever it is that’s challenging for you, it’s my job to help you get through it.”
✨ (Betty Jean)“When you started this thing, you were afraid of talking to people you didn’t know, you were scared of putting yourself out there.”
(Brooklyn)“That’s because Mom wasn’t here to help me.”
(Betty Jean)“But you used everything you’ve learned from her and put it all into being the best version of yourself—and she’s a big part of that.” ~immediate tears 😭~
Favorite lines:
✨ “It’s okay to be scared, you know. Talking about your feelings isn’t always easy. But I’m here to help with that. And whatever it is that’s challenging for you, it’s my job to help you get through it.”
✨ (Betty Jean)“When you started this thing, you were afraid of talking to people you didn’t know, you were scared of putting yourself out there.”
(Brooklyn)“That’s because Mom wasn’t here to help me.”
(Betty Jean)“But you used everything you’ve learned from her and put it all into being the best version of yourself—and she’s a big part of that.” ~immediate tears 😭~
January 23, 2023
I love a Middle Grade which diverse and not afraid of discussing issues like grief and anxiety. For me Cookie Monsters has it all by the bucket load.
Our main character is Brooklyn Ace who life has changed dramatically and now she finds herself with the help of her friends trying to be seller of Valentine World Scout Cookies for her region and all antics ensues. It is just not about cookies it shows the reader what a group can do if they put their minds to it.
I loved that Brooklyn's friends had strong characters but also had their own side stories which really gave the story that extra something.
There were some great messages in the story and I think Erika handled how grief can make anxiety twice as bad and that it was not a sign of weakness to get help. For all these reasons I am giving Cookie Monsters 4 stars.
Our main character is Brooklyn Ace who life has changed dramatically and now she finds herself with the help of her friends trying to be seller of Valentine World Scout Cookies for her region and all antics ensues. It is just not about cookies it shows the reader what a group can do if they put their minds to it.
I loved that Brooklyn's friends had strong characters but also had their own side stories which really gave the story that extra something.
There were some great messages in the story and I think Erika handled how grief can make anxiety twice as bad and that it was not a sign of weakness to get help. For all these reasons I am giving Cookie Monsters 4 stars.
February 25, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I think my daughter would love it as well. It was a very sweet book about loss, family, and friendship that is relatable to all ages. Sometimes you want to win, but it ends up being for the wrong reasons and sometimes you don't know what others are going through and it can be life-changing to just support those around you and show compassion. I think my favorite part was the normalization of therapy, mental health, and self-discovery that runs throughout the book which was done beautifully.
May 26, 2023
A great story that teaches so many great tools for dealing with anxiety. It also teaches ingenuity and thinking outside the box. If you like Girl Scout cookies, this is a super fun book about competition and the hard work it takes to be successful in selling them. Especially when there’s so much competition.
January 22, 2023
I'm so so excited I won a copy of this in a GoodReads giveaway! I LOVED Erika's first book. Squad Goals was a breath of joy and good feelings and positivity in a world that needs as much joy as possible. I keep recommending it to people, and now I get an early look at her next book. THIS IS THE BEST.
As expected, Erika Kendrick's second book was as good as her first. Heartwarming and joyful and good. 100% recommend.
As expected, Erika Kendrick's second book was as good as her first. Heartwarming and joyful and good. 100% recommend.
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