Liam Wrenn sat anxiously in the first floor rotunda of Morris Library as students and community members held back their urge to take a bite of his work of art.

Wrenn, an 8 year old from Carbondale, won voters’ hearts and the people’s choice award for his interpretation of one of his favorite books, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” at this year’s Edible Book Festival.

Using enough chocolate chip cookie dough to fill a pizza pan, Wrenn made a giant cookie with a bite taken out of it topped with a big mouse made of Rice Krispies and chocolate frosting. Next to the mouse sat a half-full glass using white chocolate as the milk.

“I really wanted to make a giant mouse,” Wrenn said. “I had the perfect idea for what I wanted the cookie to look like. It’s really fun to make the cakes.”

Morris Library, in partnership with the Carbondale Public Library, sponsored the 4th annual festival Tuesday afternoon. The competition showcased creative minds of students and community members — the idea was to create an edible arrangement to correspond with a book title. Competitors were asked to come up with their best culinary puns and edible illustrations in an effort to promote literacy in the community.

A panel of judges chose the best submissions in several categories including best in show, people’s choice, punniest, least edible, most edible, best book structure and best RSO submission.

Jamie Hoffman, of Alto Pass, and a Delyte’s Café employee, was awarded the best in show award for her edible rendition of “The Little Engine that Could.”

Hoffman used a variety of small cakes and different colored icing to portray the famous children’s book.

The arrangement took her approximately two and half hours, not including the baking portion, she said.

Hoffman said she was impressed by this year’s submissions.

“Some of them are really creative,” she said. “I like them. The cookie one (Wrenn’s) is absolutely adorable.”

The judges awarded Hoffman a brand new Kindle eReader for her efforts.

Humanities and fine arts librarian Sarah Prindle organized this year’s event. She said the event saw an increase in entries — with a total of 19 submissions from students, staff, RSOs and community members. The idea is to get students and community members to engage with the library and literature through fun and creativity, she said.

“It was created by an art librarian and a book artist,” Prindle said. “They made it as a silly thing. Puns are the main component.”

Prindle said during past festivals, mainly faculty, and staff members have competed. However, this year the organizers saw a rise in student involvement — a trend she hopes will continue.

“An academic library can be a place for serious books and serious knowledge and research,” she said. “I think it’s important to have fun with literature.”