The Cookie Tree is written by Jay Williams and illustrated by Blake Hampton. The story takes place in the village of Owlgate where "nothing surprising ever happened because nothing surprising was allowed to happen." Then one day, a little girl named Meg looked our her window and saw a strange tree growing cookies. She told her mother who did not believe her until she went and saw it for herself. Meg's father went to tell the mayor who became worried, as well as many of the townspeople. All of the children were staring at the tree and talking about how a magician brought the tree. The adults in the town talked of chopping the tree down because it showed signs of witchcraft and danger in the future. They paid no attention to the children shaking the tree to make the cookies fall so they could eat them. When Sir Owen, the local knight, pulled his sword to cut the tree down it was no where to be seen. As the children ate the cookies the tree became smaller and smaller until it disappeared. And somewhere a magician was happy because that was exactly what the tree was for.
I would use this book to create a science lesson on trees. Cookies do not really grow on trees so I would have the children research things that do grown on trees. We could look at different types of trees, what they produce, and where they grow in the world. Students could work in small groups to present the information they have found to the class.
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