I Hungry and I Want a Cookie 1

I'm hungry and I want a cookie.

Why a cookie, you may ask?  Well, cookies make me full, happy, content.  Cookies are universally loved and will always be.  And most important of all, cookies are DELICIOUS.  But when I think of a cookie, the first thing that scrolls through my mind is not a warm scent emanating from my oven, or of a tremendous cookie-cake from Mrs. Field's.  Instead, I think of a book - a picture book.  I'm really not kidding.

Who hasn't read (or at least heard of) If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff?  Literally, this book was everywhere when I was younger - in fact, it still is.  There's just something about a little mouse and a cookie that children (and everyone, for that matter) adore.  A basic overview of this story is that a mouse goes into a little boy's home and asks for a cookie.  This gives way to a million other small but numerous requests such as fetching glasses of milk and trimming whiskers that the boy must perform.  So basically, the whole book is of the boy heeding to whatever this high-maintenance mouse says.  However, the theme of this story is much more meaningful.

The reason why this is my favorite childhood story is not because of the cute mouse, or the yummy-looking cookie.  In actuality, I enjoyed this book so much because of the life lessons it taught me, because of the things I could take away and apply to my own self.  This book is about morality.  It is about being unselfish and cooperative, and shows readers how generous and friendly one can really be.  Even though the little mouse did not have much to give in return, that boy did all those favors anyway and was rewarded with a new companion in the process.  It shows us not to place such an emphasis on materialistic benefits, but instead on the more important joys of life.  I think that this book should be a treasure for all families, as it was - and still is - to me.