Cookies & Milk

Cookies & Milk
Shawn Amos
Little Brown, 2022
296 pages

Ellis is looking forward to summer, playing his harmonica and hanging out with his best friend. His plans take a turn as his parents divorce leaves with his entrepreneur dad, who is opening a cookie shop on LA's Sunset Strip. The store doesn't look like much, but Ellis spends the summer helping Dad sprucing it up, perfecting the recipe, and connecting to the community to establish a customer base. Despite his good intentions, Ellis has a series of mishaps that sets the new team back, including a chocolate chip explosion, a falling tower of sugar, and a go-cart demolition. Meanwhile, a mysterious neighbor and local DJ seems to know Dad from the past. Who is he? And what is this "Rat Trap" that the men keep discussing. As Ellis gets to know this new DJ friend, he graduates from his love of the blues to the new world of funk. Ellis taps into his heritage as he navigates the world of 1970's Hollywood. Finally, with the help of all of their friends, Sunset Cookies opens with great fanfare and a surprise guest comes to help celebrate.

The son of "Famous Amos" tells a biographically-based tale of helping his father open his first store in 1975. The first person account is highly readable and laugh-aloud funny. I especially love the grandmother character who was given the best lines and always steals the scene. Readers will identify with Ellis, who tries to help, but often gets it wrong. What he gets right is his big heart, which allows him to meet many interesting folks from the neighborhood, who become good friends. Themes include the importance of family and community, communication and forgiveness between family members, cultural and civic pride, loyalty, and--most of all--the power of a good cookie. Young readers will be exposed to some classic blues and funk and the playlist, thoughtfully included in the backmatter, will give them songs to download. Further backmatter includes a chocolate chip cookie recipe and an inspirational author's note. There are some comic-style drawings spread among the pages to lure in the target audience, but they do not overwhelm the text and are not necessary to the plot. Cookies & Milk is a story I truly enjoyed. It has a lot of heart, has something to say, and, best of all, made me laugh.