Customer Reviews
Disappointing and disjointed - By: Jessi, 27 Nov 2008 
Jacqueline Wilson's stories deal with some very sensitive topics & they're fun to read, too, which is why I read 'Cookie' within a few days of its publication. As a teacher, I was hoping to use it as the basis for a classroom discussion with a group of Year 6s on some of the issues that the book brings up.
In the end I couldn't use it. The book seems to be aimed at much younger children, & the story doesn't fit together properly. When Beauty Cookson's mum realises that Beauty is being bullied over her appearance by her classmates, as well as by her vicious dad, she decides that she will teach Beauty how to bake cookies so that she can share them at school & subtly persuade the bullies to give her a new nickname - Cookie instead of Ugly. This just isn't realistic. Beauty's own method of comforting herself is even less so - she religiously watches a toddlers' programme about a man & his rabbit, & imagines them saying kind things to her. Her conversations with the television are represented as a real dialogue. When Beauty begins to panic about her looks, Sam says to her, "We think you look stunningin your dress & pinafore & special boots." When she complains to him about her name, he 'says' back, "I think Beauty's the most special namein all the world."
A child with low self-esteem just would not imagine those things, as one of the problems that come with low self-esteem is an inability to believe that anyone sees youin a positive light. The story takes a few more bizarre twists & turns - Beauty finally makes a friend, who vanishes halfway through the book & doesn't reappear; she & her mum run away to livein a little guest house by the beach, & the bullying dad is tidily sorted out of the picture; & Beauty's cookie-baking becomes famous so that she gets to go on TV with her hero Sam & his rabbit Lily.
None of it fits together. I read the novelin one sitting & felt very confused by the muddled plot & the unrealistic scenarios that kept cropping up. I can't recommend this one.
P.S. Have any other readers noticed how often Jacqueline Wilson employs the word 'special'? It seems to be her favourite adjective. This is only a minor thing, but it started to grate on mein 'Cookie'.
Not her best. - By: T. Ashton, 23 Nov 2008 Im a fifteen year old who's been reading Jacqueline Wilson since I was eight, & I think this is definitly one of Jacquelines worst books, along with Kiss. Reading the inside cover of the book, it sounded pretty good & I thought it wouldnt be too young for me to read.
It turns out to be for nobody older than twelvein my opinion. its extremely babyish, just how all of jacquelines books seem to be nowdays. its about an unfortunatly ugly girl called Beauty who gets bullied blah blah blah... In other words, the same sort of sad, pathetic babyish characterin most of her books. The storyline seems to be a mix of 'sleepovers' (because of the whole thing with wanting to be friends with your worst enemys best friend thing)'love lessons' ( the nasty dad, although this one is much worse) & every other book that has a low on self confidence annoying girl as the narrator, which is virtually every book she's written. Thats the thing with this book.Everything is far too recognisable from other books.As Ive already said, the 'narrator' of the story is a whining, babyish girl whos good at art, theres the mean dad, the kind mum, & theres the group of girls at school where one of thems nice & the rest are nasty.A lot of the things the characters say or the way they speak are exactly the same as other charactersin other books.The characters need sayings of their own to set them apart from the rest but a lot of the things they say & they way they speak is exactly the same as charactersin her other books, which makes them just like clones.Another thing thats wrong is that theres good description, but too much of it. I skipped parts of the book a lot because of its description that just seems to ramble on. Theres also a weired programme on TV that Beauty likes to watch. Its for 3 year olds but its Beauty fav. programme, even though shes about twelve. Its about a quite frankly, freaky man & his creepy pet rabbit. I also skipped about twenty pages of the book due to the saddo dialogue from this man.
If youre under twelve, I wouldnt buy it. rent it from a library or something. if youre over twelve & an experianced reader who has read a lot of jacqueline wilson, i wouldnt advise it.
Not her best. - By: Jane Field, 16 Nov 2008 Yeah, I love Jaqueline Wilson, I've read all her books! She's a great author. But this, I have to say, was one of her worst books. It was just too childish, & uninteresting. If your an amature reader, with an average imagination then this book will be good for you, but for someone like me, an experienced reader, who likes a challenge to read, then this book might not be the best idea. It is very hard to get into, & far too basic. Also, something I found quite boring, Jaqueline Wilson is doing the kind of same book, for eg. Lola Rose, which is along the same lines, just a MUCH better book! I do recommend that one by the way. Just, 'Cookie' is a bit of a disappointment. :D Hope this helped
Boring doom and gloom - By: , 14 Nov 2008 
I found this book very boring as all it goes on about is bullying angry dad bullying angry dad & normal life with that lot in. It is sadin places & I don't recomend it as I think you will be waisting your money. Still read it though as you will never know until you have read it & this is my personal opinion. I recomend you to borrow it out of your local library & then buy it if you like it.
FAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - By: , 06 Nov 2008 
Its a great book that i've given 5 stars. Fantastic & fun JW has done a nother fab book i look forward to what she will do next. I say you get it as soon as you can i know you'll enjoy this fab book. I do hope you enjoy this totaly fab book.
