Everyone enjoys the cosiness and friendliness of their favourite café. But what happens when the place you love suddenly changes?

Mabel loves visiting Miss Plum’s Sugar Plum Café and drawing pictures for the arty-smarty wall. But one day, Mabel finds the café under renovation by someone new. She misses her favourite café, and she misses Miss Plum’s smiles. One day, the café reopens, and Mabel reluctantly visits there with her mother. Will this new place provide Mabel with the same joy she felt in the old place? And how will Mabel accept its differences?

In The Welcome Cookies, Mabel witnesses what she perceives to be the destruction of a place she loved. The story shows how even though we can sometimes mourn the loss of a place and miss seeing people, if we open ourselves to new things, it can mean new beginnings and a chance for new friendships to develop. The story also shows how a child has the power to make someone feel special and welcome.

With sensitive illustrations that give life to Mabel’s emotional responses, this book will have young and old alike wanting to visit their local café to taste the welcome cookies.

Kaye Baillie is an award-winning children’s author, with eleven fiction and non-fiction books published in Australia and internationally. With a passion for writing about remarkable people or events, Kaye’s stories are full of humour and heart.

Kirrili Lonergan is a children’s book illustrator, art therapist and mother of four. She has illustrated several picture books as well as creating designs for clothes, prints and pottery.