Ahwatukee authors bake up new 'Cookiesaurus' book for kids

Ahwatukee authors Amy Fellner Dominy and Nate Evans are marking the release of their new children’s book, “Cookiesaurus Christmas” with – what else? – a cookie party.

They’re inviting parents to bring their kids at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, to Changing Hands Bookstore in the strip mall on the southwest corner of Guadalupe Road and McClintock Drive, Tempe, for cookie decorating, stories and book signings. People who can’t attend but want a personalized copy can also call 480-730-0205.

Their latest in a series of books that give Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster a run for his money, “Cookiesaurus Christmas” again centers around Cookiesaurus Rex, who “would like nothing more than to make it onto Santa’s cookie plate,” said Dominy.

“But what happens at Christmas time when everyone wants holiday shapes like bells, stars and gingerbread? What’s a dinosaur cookie gotta do to get noticed by Santa? It felt like a story with lots of opportunity for humor as well as a holiday message about doing the right thing.”

Dominy, who also writes novels for teens and published one in April titled “The Fall of Grace” through Random House, said the latest cookie book “serves up plenty of laughs but also has a sweet message about the true spirit of the holidays.”

Though she and Evans wrote the book in 2016, “our amazing illustrator, A.G. Ford, got to work on the art.”

A onetime Hallmark Cards artist, Evans, a middle-school art teacher, became a New York Times bestselling author/illustrator of more than 40 children’s books.

Dominy has written 11 novels, some earning praise from other authors for her engaging stories about teenagers.

Their Cookiesaurus series is geared toward children ages 3 to 7, and was inspired by a dream Evans had about a rampaging dinosaur cookie wreaking havoc on a little Lego village.

“That was the fragment of the idea that started us brainstorming,” said Dominy, who met Evans at a dinner.

At the book signing, Storybook Kitchen is supplying the cookies and material to decorate them. The first 40 people who buy “Cookiesaurus Christmas” also will get a “dino cookie cutter” courtesy of Ann Clark Cookie Cutters.”