Tough Cookie

by David Wisniewski

When his friend Chips is snatched and chewed, Tough Cookie sets out from the bottom of the jar to stop Fingers.

Genres: Picture Books, Mystery, Humor, Childrens, Food, Fantasy, Detective

Library Binding

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

David R. Wisniewski was an American writer and illustrator best known for children's books.

He attended the University of Maryland, College Park but quit after one semester to join the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, graduating in 1973. He worked for several years as a clown before moving to Maryland and joining the Prince George's Country Puppet Theatre where he met his wife Donna Harris. In 1980, they started the Clarion Puppet Theatre (later known as the Clarion Shadow Theatre) which toured in schools, theaters and at the Smithsonian. After his children were born, he become a full-time author/ illustrator, using layers of cut paper to illustrate children's books. His book Golem, won the 1997 Caldecott Medal.

In his acceptance speech, he said of himself: "I am a self-taught artist and writer who depends on instincts developed through years of circus and puppet performance to guide a story's structure and look."

Reviews

[Julene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this one. It is probably for kids who are at least 5 or so, but I read it to my 2-year-old anyway. If you are going to read it though, you have to read it in a tough-private-eye-from-Brooklyn accent. It is sweet!

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't have any idea what the audience for this book is. It's supposed to be a hard boiled crime novel about a rough detective trying to fight against the fingers that steal away cookies. But no kids know the genre; frankly, I don't think that the genre is appropriate for kids. Plus, it doesn't have a happy ending; it has a kind of fear-of-the-next-time ending.

[Jillian Dospil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny picture book written for lower elementary. This picture books takes place in a cookie jar containing different types of cookies and some fingers as well! It also is filled with bright illustrations that are very attractive for young students.

[Abigail McAree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Mystery
Grade: 2nd-5th
Unique Feature: I love this book because it is a good mystery book that also has you laughing the whole time. It’s a story about a “tough cookie” detective and has a lot of funny personification!!

[Esmeralda Chaidez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good to show the importance of mystery and problem solving. You could use this book to show the steps people take to solve a problem. An activity you could do would be passing out some mystery problems and have them solve it in groups!

[Anne S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough Cookie is a story about a cookie who is a cop at the bottom of the cookie jar. How he got there is a story unto itself. Found this book by accident and would love to read it to any little child.

[gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cracked me up.

[K Gover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent for a Memory Moment Lesson.
I'd project the "map" of the cookie jar to let students fully appreciate the setting.
Creative and vocabulary was appropriate for gr. 6

[Jaid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

E: I thought this book was really funny because of certain crumbs that came out and the… FINGERS!
P.S 5 star rating from E

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

My child thought it was hilarious; I thought it was not and needed explanation.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange book.

[Aly McWilliams · Rating 5 out of 5]

An imaginative storyline for littles. They get introduced to the genre before they even know what a genre is. Clever!

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the hard boiled detective tropes, the kids didn’t quite get it.

[Abbigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anticlimactic ending, but an original idea with a cool map of the cookie jar at the front (despite its sort of coded language) and fun read-aloud potential.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough Cookie is a detective who is trying to find peace in the cookie jar. He is at the bottom of the jar with the crumbs of the world and he himself is turning stale. But there is a villain who has been harassing the cookie world and its name is Fingers. Tough Cookie lost his family to this creature and he refuses to lose anyone else to it. He takes it upon himself to tackle the deathly fingers and to protect his bottom of the jar family. Pecan Sandy warns Tough cookie to ask for help defeating his enemy but tough cookie refuses and walks on to meet his fate. Did Tough Cookie make the right decision though?
The whole books plays out like an old detective show. I found this book to be very enjoyable and endearing to the reader. Adults will appreciate the nod to detective films as well as the clever way the author incorporates the various aspects of cookies such as crumbs and raisons. Heavily in the genre of fiction, this mystery picture book brings the characters to life. They are all very realistic and make decisions that we can all understand and even appreciate. The pages seemed to have been made by collaging different papers on top of one another to give an almost 3-d affect. The colors were bright and popped off the page with a heavy dose of yellow. All the characters had yellow somewhere on their person which showed how happy they were even though they were stale, bottom of the jar cookies and crumbs. The ending brings a sense of completion while seeing that teamwork can overcome all. It is never a bad thing to ask for help, and that is what having friends is all about; having each other’s back.

[Bianca Arias · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tough Cookie", written by David Wisniewski, is a fun filled story about a raisin cookie by the name of Tough Cookie. Recently this courage's cookie has relocated to the bottom of the jar to protect those known as "Crumbs" in the story from "Fingers". Unfortunately early on in the story it is revealed that Tough Cookie's old partner, Chips, gets a bite taken out of him. Tough Cookie quickly realizes that he must stand up to Fingers once and for all, but will he get eaten too?

The illustrations in "Tough Cookie" are fun, enjoyable, and believe or not but realistic as well. The illustrations portray how the cookies are being portrayed as grown adult humans in a rough and tough neighborhood. In this book the bottom of the jar is the toughest part to live in of them all. The author keeps the reader on their toes at all times of this book with suspenseful moments and mysterious fun while Tough Cookie ventures out through the various areas of the jar. In the book I did not feel that the author needed to make use of the whole space because the suspense and humor within the text distracts the reader from the focus of that negative space.The context of this book allows the reader to feel involved. Overall Tough Cookie's character is portrayed as a mysterious character and does a well job at keeping the readers engaged.

From the very beginning this book had me hooked to its hilarious humor and its unique story plot. I would definitely recommend this book to children or adults.

[Rachael Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough Cookie is about the life of cookies living in a cookie jar. Tough Cookie is a cookie that solves crimes that take place in the jar. After Tough Cookie’s partner Chips has been harmed by the enemy, fingers, Tough Cookie finds out that he is wanted! Can Tough Cookie avoid being eaten by Fingers!?
I was hooked the minute I opened this picture book. It begins with a diagram of a cookie jar with each level representing a different neighborhood. This story was so creative that I am unable to choose which part of this story—text or illustration—was my favorite. The text was so silly, but the illustrations were insanely imaginative. I loved how the illustrations fit perfectly to the text. Not only did the humble coloring match the mysterious tone of the story, but the facial expressions of each cookie shared their thoughts.
I think that children would love this story because it is so silly and they could relate it to the cookie jar in their own home. Tough Cookie is one of the best picture books that I have read. There was not a second that I did not enjoy this hilarious story. I recommend this book to children of all ages.

[Anthony Morello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough Cookie is a mystery crime drama set in a cookie jar "city". The narrator is a former detective that is still fighting crime on the rough streets of The Bottom of the Jar, when an old love interest Pecan Sandy tells him of a developing issue. His old partner Chips has fallen victim to the dreaded Fingers and the narrator pledges to stop the terror of the cookie city. Others, especially crumbs try to help our tough cookie hero, but this case is personal and will be his toughest yet.

I really enjoyed this book because it is very creative, humorous, and the illustrations are fantastic! The story is written in a first-person monologue similar to old crime stories and full of puns about cookies. David Wisiewski used cut-paper illustrations for his characters and scenes and arranged them perfectly to create a good cohesion between the text and illustrations. The peritext map of the Jar city provides the reader with background to the story setting and giving them the comedy of "what if my own cookie jar is alive inside?". Readers of all ages will enjoy this book and I would definitely recommend it for upper elementary students that will understand the humor in it.

[Teri-mae Delay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tough Cookie is a classic detective story. Only in this story, the characters are cookies and crumbs. Tough Cookie's partner, Chips, gets a bite taken out of him by Fingers. Then Tough Cookie goes to the top of the cookie jar to get vengeance and face Fingers. With the help of all the crumbs, not only do they defeat Fingers, but Tough Cookie wins back the love of his life.
This graphic novel is probably the cutest children book I've ever read. The classic detective novel style is instantly eye catching. The illustrator uses a lot of browns and yellows to show what kind of cookie each character is. The voice of the story is an old detective male voice, this is made quite clear on the first page. There is no negative space in this book, which I enjoy. This book received a rate of five for how adorable the plot is, and how fun the story itself is to read.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll keep this short because others have mentioned the way the book is written. My five year old and I both found it very funny. I definitely liked that this is a book an adult can really enjoy. Most of the books I read with my daughter I tolerate - if that. This was actually a fun one to read.
Pecan Sandy is classic. The fingers and the crumbs? Hilarious. How Tough Cookie gets through to the end? Awesome. The only thing I didn't like - borderline hated in fact - was the few word sentences. I have to admit it worked because of the way the book was written and the characters. It's just not my thing and I wish there could have been something different there.
I may have to check if there are any other books by the author - Julia and I both found it truly funny.

[Rebecca Sherod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, narrated by Tough Cookie, explains what it’s like to be a cookie in the bottom of a cookie jar. Tough Cookie, who started out fresh on top, now spends his time at the bottom of the jar, helping the crumbs avoid trouble. But when tragedy strikes, he must step up and go head to head, or rather cookie to hand, with Fingers.
The pictures throughout this book enhance the story by depicting what is going on. The animated cookies provide a good laugh and are just fun to look at. The story provides a sense of mystery, and is told like an old time detective show. This book is a great choice for kids because of its fun and unique storyline.

[Courtney Dromazos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awards: AISLE Read-Aloud Books Too Good To Miss 2001.5|Ageless, 2001

Grades: Pre-K-1

Summary: Tough Cookie is a private investigator/crime fighter in charge in his city, The Jar. A familiar villain, Fingers threatens the city when he reaches further down into The Jar than he has before. It's up to Tough Cookie to protect his city.

Review: The story is reminiscent of a black and white P.I. show, dialogue and all. Though that may be lost on the students, the story is fun none the less. The fact that the story is all about cookies and fingers will make it become an easy classic.

Uses:
1. Fun read aloud
2. Fantasy model
3. Model text

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Tough Cookie" is a childrens' book that demonstrate our society in a cartoon character perspective. We find that the police break up the macaroons, and busted the ginger snaps. Now all that is left are the fingers. No one has ever been able to stop the fingers, but after Tough Cookie's parter Chips gets into a rundown with them, he is determined to stop them. With a little brains from his ex-lady friend Pecan Sandy the two stop fingers with the help from the crumbs. Sometimes it takes a little more brains than brawn.

[Jay Bushara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Some call them crumbs. I call them friends. I like helping them out. Anybody makes trouble, I step in. That’s my job. I’m a tough cookie.” And who is the formidable nemesis in all this? Fingers, of course. Like the wrath of God, descending and randomly horrible. There’s not much deeper meaning here, but this book is worth reading for its noirish tough-guy language, and also because how many times have you considered life from the bottoms, tops and middles of a cookie jar? Filling on many levels.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was wild and hilarious. It was such a unique fantasy story about a cookie detective in charge of protecting the different levels of the cookie jar. I would definitely recommend this for K-2!
Unique Feature: The plot itself is such a crazy concept! With this book, children could write their own food-coming-to-life stories and they would have to think really creatively to come up with thoughts, feelings, and plots.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elaborate cut-paper illustrations create this old-time detective story with a modern fantastical twist involving a hard-boiled detective who is one tough cookie. Literally. Tough cookie takes on the responsibility of fighting the hand that enters his cookie jar world, causing chaos, death, and crumbs.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute story. Although, I kept thinking the whole time about how long those cookies have been at the bottom of the jar and how the fresh cookies are always on top. Then I start thinking about how gross that is to just pile new cookies on top of old ones and then I'm no longer involved in the book, but thinking about other things. In that regard, the story drove me a little crazy.

[Sabine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this with my nine year old daughter. Here is her review: It's funny. I thought it was a really good book. My favorite part is when the crumbs attack, Fingers.

My review: Fun book, with cute pictures. Written in 1940's detective style, filled with fun references to different cookies including a main character named Pecan Sandy. This book had us laughing from beginning to end.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This picture book parodies the writing style of the hard-boiled detective novel and is full of word puns. While it may be vaguely amusing to an adult, it does not offer much to a young child who is not likely to get the puns and certainly won't know anything about the style being parodied. Because of the style, my daughter had some minor difficult following the plot.