  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 08/01/2011 *Starred Review* The Gingerbread Man heads to school in this delightful reshuffling of the traditional tale. Here, the Gingerbread Man pops out of a classroom oven, but just as he is about to join the students, the children leave—and leave him behind. Told in spot-on, deadpan rhyme and illustrated in large, comic-book-style panels, this title will leave kids giggling as they follow the sometimes dire consequences of the G-man’s efforts to be reunited with his class: being run over by a soccer ball; needing to have his toe reattached by the school nurse (“I’ll limp and I’ll limp, as fast as I can”); and finding himself in the art-teacher’s lunch sack. Finally, the principal shows the Gingerbread Man that his class hadn’t deserted him; they’d just gone out to recess and are now eagerly awaiting his return. They’ve even made him a gingerbread house! This reinvention of a venerable figure is funny to the max. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. School Library Journal - 08/01/2011 PreS-Gr 2—This comic-style story is told from the gingerbread man's point of view. Just as the timer dings and the cookie that the kids made is pulled out of the oven, the teacher calls "RECESS!" and they all run off. Readers follow the gingerbread man's journey to look for the children, told in rhyming couplets, as he encounters the gym teacher, the nurse (who mends his broken toe), the art teacher, and the principal. Eventually, he rejoins the students and is declared an official member of the class, complete with his own desk, chair, and cottage. With a little practice to get the beats just right, the text can be easily read aloud, and youngsters can be invited to chime in on the refrain: "I'm the Gingerbread Man/and I'm trying to find,/the children who made me,/but left me behind." A variety of fonts is used to indicate differences between speakers and the narration. The cartoon illustrations are primitive in style, but suit the story to a tee.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Loading...
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