Poor Herbie, he's looking so much forward to Christmas, but a moment of weakness at Ali Baba's Bakery ruins everything. Ridden with guilt, he finally gathers courage to do the right thing. Just in time for the holidays to chime in.

Sweet little story, and so easy to empathize with Herbie and his guilty little secret. The story of the cookie is fascinating from beginning to the end, especially when we get a cross section of it making its way down to Herbie's fat stomach. We'll be reading more of Lottie's World ... ( )

Yet another wonderful book by Petra Mathers. I have to admit that some of the charm of her books is because she is a family friend and quite a few of her stories have taken place in the small town where I grew up. Her characters go to the places I went to as a child and they take part in a culture I am very familiar with. To me, Mathers is the master of the picture book and the standard by which I compare all other children's books to. I have since I was first introduced to her books with Maria Theresa. There is a magic in how she writes her stories with the illustrations and the details she puts into them is absolutely amazing. A child can read and re-read her books and still find something new to discover in the pictures. ( )