[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
A hungry Ben starts his day without sausages (his stomach is pretty put out about that!), but with a fortune cookie. But then he has to give the cookie away (cue angrier stomach), leaving him with just the fortune: “Good things come to those who wait.”
This seems like good advice. And Ben wants good things. So he decides to do more waiting. But it doesn’t always make things better like he thought it would. For example, he waits to claim a partner for a class project and gets stuck with Walter. They used to be friends, but now Walter is kind of an outcast. In this case, waiting might have been a bad move.
Review
This is book 2 in the illustrated Cookie Chronicles series. I have not read book one, which was not an issue for understanding this book. This is primarily a friendship story. Ben follows his fortune and it causes a fracture in his relationship with his friends at school AND it gets him “stuck” with Walter on this project. I loved watching Ben wrestle through his friendship questions both with Walter and with the other kids. He makes some mistakes along the way, but his heart is in the right place. I think readers will enjoy the scavenger hunt pieces of the story as well as the friendship pieces.
Ben and Walter are both 8-going-on-9 which pitches this young in the world of middle grade novels. Because of that, I think this would also work for younger kids reading early chapter books who are ready for longer, more nuanced stories that still don’t delve into the more mature topics tackled in some middle grade books.
Rating: ♥♥♥½*
*♥♥♥½ = Good+