When Carrot Met Cookie

Packed with food puns and speech bubbles, this picture book fable by Perl features warring factions of anthropomorphic vegetables and desserts. Cookie, a big-eyed chocolate chip variety, and Carrot, a similarly large-eyed orange specimen with a fluffy green stem, become fast friends when they meet in the park one day. “Carrot taught Cookie to dip,” one page reads, showing the duo stepping into a bowlful of hummus; on the next, “Cookie taught Carrot to dunk” attends an image of the pair holding their breath in a glass of milk. But when each snack’s other friends express their derision—and each friend, in turn, fails to defend the other—their friendship takes a sour turn, until Cookie consults Aunt C.C., a slice of carrot cake. Geisel Honoree Fenske offers bright, uncluttered cartoon art in this comedic tale of friendship and tolerance. Ages 4–6. (Sept.)