THE GREAT COOKIE WAR

Beth and her Canadian Mennonite family become enmeshed in a cookie war between rival U.S. companies in this story based on a real lawsuit.

Beth is starting to question her parents’ values, especially since they sharply conflict with her burning desire to become an artist. Art is an emotional necessity to the 12-year-old, but her plain-living parents view it as a prideful display. When sophisticated but nonetheless remarkably shallow corporate attorney Paula comes calling, seeking supporting evidence to prove her client has not violated another company’s patent, Beth is drawn to the lawyer. She has, after all, often visited art museums and seems to understand Beth’s drive to create. If her family cooperates with Paula and lends her a treasured family heirloom—Grand-mama’s spattered handwritten cookbook—enough money would pour in to fund art lessons and materials for Beth. Paula would use the recipe book to prove her company’s cookie recipe is ancient, not recently stolen from their rival. But Beth’s family is not so inclined. Just as Beth’s resolve to hew to her family’s values slightly wavers, a severe ice storm and a desperate rescue only she can heroically accomplish help her see a path forward in her own life. Although Stellings carefully interweaves fact and fiction, the resultant story at once provides too much of Paula’s predictable shallowness and not enough of Beth’s engaging life to fully flesh out either one. The cast is presumed White.

Entertaining but without necessary depth.