soup of the day: models don’t eat chocolate cookies by erin dionne

~ jama

      

Here, cookie, cookie, cookie!

Yes, I’m talking to you.

Pour yourself a nice tall glass of milk and get ready to take a great big bite out of this post.

Today, fellow munchkins, we’re celebrating the deliciously divine and delectable worldwide debut of Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies (Dial, 2009), by Live Journal’s very own Erin Dionne!

    
      MODELS DON’T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES by Erin Dionne,
      (Dial BFYR, 2009), ages 9-12, 256 pp.

Man, oh man. Is this the perfect combination or what? A book and chocolate cookies! Even better, a book about chocolate cookies. I mean, what else is there? I should tell you a little more about the book, but I keep wanting to eat that scrumptious cover.

*Breathe. Control. Focus.*

Okay, so Models is Erin’s debut novel for middle grade readers. It’s all about thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris, who loves wearing comfy clothes and eating cookies every afternoon (smart girl). She’s perfectly happy with her lifestyle until her meddling Aunt Doreen secretly enters her into the Miss HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge for plus-size girls.

Arrgh! Feeling guilty, the only way Celeste can think of to get out of the whole thing is to lose weight. A thin girl, after all, wouldn’t qualify as a husky peach. So, she launches Operation Skinny Celeste, and must deal with mean girls, thin women in black dresses, nasty diet drinks, and a fair weather friend. By turns hilarious, sweet, and touching, tween readers will enjoy the lively narrative and readily identify with Celeste’s angst, heartache, and awkwardness as she builds a more positive self image. 

In an interview at Writing for Children and Teens, Erin reveals that the book was inspired by her own experience of wearing a scary peach bridesmaid dress in the seventh grade. Fortunately, she was able to turn this trauma into a short story, that eventually grew into a novel entitled, Beauty Binge (a PEN/New England Children’s Caucus 2006 Susan P. Bloom Discovery Night Honoree), which was then renamed, Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies.

I, for one, want to literally inhale this title, which is being officially released today in both hardcover and paperback editions, sure to satisfy all manner of cravings.

So, are you ready to dive into today’s bottomless bowl of soup? If you’re a model, you needn’t bother. This soup is for readers, writers, and good natured chocoholics who are ready to toast Erin on a tasty job well done. Just because it’s chocolate, you’re allowed to slurp, guzzle, and lick yourself silly — then go out and get this book, or order it through your favorite online bookseller!!


Today’s Special: Cream of Chocolate (certified best inspiration for writers)

For more about Erin, visit her official website and Live Journal blog.

Don’t miss the special Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies webpage, where you can download a playlist, learn how to make a decoupage votive, or indulge in two yummy recipes (Mom’s Mac and Cheese, and Aunt Doreen’s Butterscotch Apple Crumbcake of Temptation). *Swoon*

And, in case you haven’t heard, Erin is running a special book launch contest on her blog. You could win a Models prize pack (including chocolate cookies!), just by leaving a comment at this post by February 11th.
                                    

*An obscene quantity of chocolate cookies was consumed during the making of this post.

nibble nibble

20 thoughts on “soup of the day: models don’t eat chocolate cookies by erin dionne”

  1. Hydrox vs. Oreo

    When I was a little kid, my mother tried to keep me from pigging out on cookies and such… Or maybe she just didn’t think this fussy five year old would like cookies or some other such nonsense….

    ANYHOW, the story goes that one day I asked my mother for a Brenda-cookie. Never hearing of such a thing, my mother needed clarification. So, I pulled on her apron and she followed me to the kitchen where pointed up on high shelf in the cupboards to a sack of Hydrox cookies and exclaimed “Brenda-cookies, Brenda-cookies!”

    Brenda was my babysitter and she introduced me to one of my Top Five cookies. The list once read like this:
    1. Hydrox
    2. Fig Newtons
    3. Lorna Dunes
    4. Oatmeal Raisin (any brand that made them “soft”)
    5. Pin Wheels

    Today, I can pass on every single one of then except number 4.

    But for a LONG time I was a Hydrox snob. (What kind of name is Hydrox?) NEVER, NEVER would I eat an Oreo. That changed during art school thanks to an illegal catalyst that would have me eat shoe leather if nothing else was available.

    In later years, while raising children and when money was tight, any generic brand would do for that “tuxedo” cookie (though my preference was for it’s “blonde twin”… the ol’ yellow cookie with creme filling).

    Now, today, this very moment, as I finish my oatmeal raisin cookie breakfast dessert….

    So, that’s my Hydrox vs. Oreo story.

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  2. That soup looks exceedingly chocolatey! I so love how whole-hearted you are in creating your book release posts, Jama. It’s a lovely thing you do for both the authors and your readers, and I don’t know that I usually remember to thank you for it. So thank you.

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  3. Re: Hydrox vs. Oreo

    What a great story!! Love your cookie rankings, too. I only had Oreos as a kid, no Hydrox. Then I got married,and Len kept touting the merits of Hydrox over Oreos. Thinking this was some kind of New England bias, I tried some Hydrox. We ate those for awhile, but now I’m totally into Newman’s chocolate cookies (no trans fats)!

    I did go through a Lorne Doone phase, too :). I think it even made me read the book.

    And in our house, we call them “Fig Jamas,” not “Fig Newtons,” because my brother’s name is Newton, and I was always jealous he had a cookie named after him and I didn’t.

    Oh, now I’m craving Oatmeal Raisin cookies. And they have to be soft and chewy!!

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  4. Thank you so much for your kind words, Kelly! I think chocolate soup is my favorite. Good thing it’s a bottomless bowl . . . and are you an Oreo or Hydrox person?

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  6. Re: Hydrox vs. Oreo

    Mmmm, Hydrox! They’re top tuxedoes, at least for me.

    I can’t find them here in SoCal. Do they make ’em anymore? Anywhere?

    Buehler? Anyone?

    Oh, and most of all…congratulations to Erin on her book release!! I’m so excited for her. She’s one of the many talented LJ friends I’ve followed (and cheered) on her long(ish) journey to publication. And better still, she’s such a sweetie-pie!

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  8. Re: Hydrox vs. Oreo

    You’re not secretly my old friend Nancy, are you? She, too, insisted on Hydrox when we were growing up – she claimed Oreos tasted “burned”.

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  10. Re: Hydrox vs. Oreo

    I detect a Hydrox conspiracy here. I think they’re still available here on the East Coast — though I haven’t sought them out ever since Newman’s stole my heart.

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  19. That first picture could be me. Which is why I don’t buy Oreos very much. I just can’t stop eating them. I also love Newman-O’s, the mint kind.

    I second Kelly’s love for your enthusiasm. Your pictures and posts about new books are always so cleverly thought out. Enticing, one could say. Designed to make one crave books like cookies.

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  20. Another Oreos addict! The mini Oreos are even more dangerous because they seem so small you don’t realize how much you’re eating.

    Thanks for the nice words. It’s fun doing these soup posts — some are more challenging than others.

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