Fortune Cookies for Everyone! (Smithsonian): The Surprising Story of the Tasty Treat We Love to Eat

● A Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
● A 2026 Notable Social Studies Trade Books Award Winner
● California Reading Association Gold Award Winner

An investigative picture book which cracks the cookie open to discover what is known about the origins of everyone’s favorite crunchy after-dinner treat - a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution
Grandma Miyako hosts her grandchildren for a takeout meal. Of course, at the end of the meal, she hands out the fortune cookies and begins to share the story of this popular treat with the attentive children as they munch on them. She claims to know the true inventor of the fortune cookie, but the history is not entirely clear. Using "fortunes" as headings, each section of the book delivers an episode in the unusual history of the fortune cookie and lays out the great debate about where and when they were first made. California was certainly the location, but in which city was the original baker located? This picture book looks inside these crunchy, biscuity treats to reveal the cultural origins and locations of the creators. Along the way, we discover some surprising history regarding this delicious edible delight, including a rivalry between bakers that remains somewhat unresolved today. Fortune Cookies for All is a compelling mystery featuring US history—the good, the bad, and the ugly—in a single bite. But most of all, it celebrates immigrants and their pursuit of the American dream.