Miss Wagner was a teacher at Awesome Elementary. She called her class the sweetest bunch and often brought them cookies. She loved all the subjects and she loved to teach, that was no mystery; But her favorite subject of all was history.

One day as the class munched and crunched on a bunch of cookies, Miss Wagner announced she had a surprise.

"Well class" said Miss Wagner, "as you now can see i have in my bag a special surprise for you, from me."

"What is the surprise?" The class was anxious to know.

She reached into the bag and pulled something out. Just then, all in unison the class began to shout...

"IT'S A BOOK!"

"That's right my friends, and its that time again where we get to have fun with my favorite subject" exclaimed Miss Wagner. "so, let's go sit in our nook with our book and learn about important people and how they made history."

The class hurried into the reading corner and set patently for their beloved teacher. As Miss Wagner set down she said to the bunch "Class if you please, while you sit there on your knees, i want you to think of what it might be like to have your own cookie company."

"Cookies?" asked one of the students, "what does cookies have to do with history?" "We are about to find out" said Miss Wagner.

Our book today is call the Cookie Empire and it tell the story of how one mans passion for cookies turned into something great!

This is the story of the charismatic cookie company creator Wallace Amos!

Wallace "Wally" Amos was born in Tallahassee, Florida on July 1, 1936. Wally Amos lived with his mother and father in his hometown until the age of 12.

In 1948 he went to live with his aunt in Manhattan, New York. Amos's aunt introduced the young man to cookies and baking and he found his love.

Driven by his love for baking Amos had enrolled himself in the Food Trades Vocational High School. During his time at the high school he made some adjustments to his aunts recipe and thus creating the Famous Amos cookies recipe we know and love today.

The class as a whole was eager to know, where this young man's journey would go.

Before completing high school he joined the United States Air Force.

He got his GED while enlisted.

After four years of service he was honorably discharged.

To earn a living Amos took up work in the stocking room of a clothing store called Saks 5th Avenue. Being overworked and underpaid he decided to quit and test his luck in the entertainment industry. He began working at the William Morris talent agency, where he worked his way up. In only a years time he became the first black talent agent at the William Morris talent agency.

Some of the acts he booked for the agency were musicians such as The Supremes, Simon and Garfunkel, and Marvin Gaye.

Marvin Gaye. The Supremes. Simon & Garfunkel

Taking what he learned from working as talent agent, Amos then opened his own theatrical management agency. He packed up and moved to Las Angeles where he also rekindled his love for baking. Baking for leisure gave him the idea for a gourmet cookie stand. He opened the first store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood California. The Famous Amos cookies were born.