• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Life in her traditional Mennonite community is peaceful, if a little dull, for twelve-year-old Beth who dreams of being an artist. She goes to school, helps with the cooking and cleaning at home, and works with her parents at the local farmer’s market. One Saturday, however, excitement shows up in the form of a determined lawyer from New York City who insists she needs a family cookie recipe to win a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.

Beth’s parents are bemused, but her grandmother is equally determined that the recipe will not leave her kitchen. As she tries to balance her love for her family and her faith with the promises of adventure New York could bring to her future, Beth learns that she is stronger than she believes. And sometimes, adventures happen close to home.

Caroline Stellings is an author and illustrator of children’s books from Waterdown, Ontario. She is a professional artist who loves to paint the many birds and animals that inhabit the wetland area near her studio. Her previous books include The Malagawatch Mice and the Church that Sailed (CBU Press), Skippers Save the Stone, a children’s book in English and Gaelic, also from CBU Press, and Skippers At Cape Spear (Breakwater Books).

Caroline Stellings' profile page

• Commended, Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids & Teens, Spring 2022

Read with Val

There are many thought-provoking issues addressed in The Great Cookie War ... in the end, Beth realizes what is important to her: “I was proud to come from a family that could not be bought, no matter how much they needed money.”

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

Beth is a character many tweens will relate to as she wrestles with who she in inside and where she wants her life to take her.

School Library Journal

"A delightfully charming, wonderfully entertaining, and fully original story for children ages 9-12."

MBR: Children's Bookwatch

Young readers will get an entertaining glimpse into a different culture.

The Calgary Herald