This beautiful Ladybird ebook edition of The Gingerbread Man is a perfect first illustrated introduction to this classic fairy tale for young readers from 3+. The tale is sensitively retold, following the Gingerbread Man as he attempts to escape all of the people and animals who want to gobble him up! Other exciting titles in the Ladybird Tales series include The Little Red Hen, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel, The Magic Porridge Pot, The Enormous Turnip, Puss in Boots, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Big Pancake, Dick Whittington, The Princess and the Frog, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, Chicken Licken and Beauty and the Beast.
Ladybird Tales are based on the original Ladybird retellings, with beautiful pictures of the kind children like best - full of richness and detail. Children have always loved, and will always remember, these classic fairy tales and sharing them together is an experience to treasure. Ladybird has published fairy tales for over forty-five years, bringing the magic of traditional stories to each new generation of children.
This is a retelling of the American classic fairy tale 'The Gingerbread Man' (sometimes called 'The Gingerbread Boy'), which first appeared in the May 1875 issue of the St. Nicholas Magazine.
The story tells of a Gingerbread Boy who runs away from the little old lady who bakes him; 'I shall make a little boy out of gingerbread. I shall make his eyes from two fat currants. I shall make his nose and mouth from bits of lemon-peel. I shall make his coat from sugar'' she tells her little old husband.
She cuts out the pastry and proceeds to make her gingerbread boy and puts him in the oven. When it is time for her to take him out, she hears a cry of 'Let me out! Let me out!' coming from within the oven. She opens the oven door and the gingerbread boy pops out and, sensing freedom, immediately runs away.
He is chased by the little old lady and her little old husband but they are unable to catch him as he runs swiftly and chants, 'Run, run, run as fast as you can, / You can't catch me, / I'm the gingerbread man!' And they don't catch him.
As he runs he passes a cow and a horse and they join the chase but they, too, are unsuccessful at catching the gingerbread boy, who continues to taunt them with his chant. Then he meets a sly old fox who tells him that he does not want to catch him, merely to talk to him. And the gingerbread boy stops when he comes to a river that he knows he will be unable to cross.
At this point the fox catches up with him and he asks the fox, 'What shall I do? I cannot cross the river.' The fox offers a solution and the gingerbread boy accepts and is ferried across the river first on the fox's tail, then on the fox's back and finally on the fox's nose. He reaches the other side safely ... or so he thinks.
It is then that the fox shows his true colours, he tosses the gingerbread boy into the air, catches him in his mouth and begins to eat him. 'Oh dear! I am one quarter gone!' cries the gingerbread boy. Then he cries, 'I am half gone!' followed by 'I am three-quarters gone!'
Sadly, after that he says nothing more as the crafty fox has eaten him ... what a sad ending to a fairy tale ...
In my SEB EYFS placement during week 1 I read this book to a group of children. The book was a large size so all children can see the words and pictures. Along with the book was puppets for each of the characters in the story and the children really enjoyed being a character each. I thought the puppets really bought the story to life. The children were on the carpet in a small circle as I read the story and when characters said something in the story, the children copied what the character said in their own voices. This develops children's communication skills and also imaginative development.
As we all know its an old tale of a Gingerbread boy who was made by an old lady and the Gingerbread boy runs away from the animals and calls out as he runs away "you cant catch me I'm the Gingerbread boy!"
The children really enjoyed acting out the scenes on the carpet and getting into character. I think this is especially good for EAL learners and quiet children to develop their communication skills and social skills with peers by getting into character and interacting. The fact that the book has a lot of animal characters is really good as even if children cannot say what the animals says, the children know the noises that animals make. This book caters to a range of abilities and can be used in cross-curricular activities.
- An old tale of a Gingerbread boy who was made by an old lady and the gingerbread boy runs away from each animal while shouting “run run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread boy”. - Good book to at out with children as has many different animals and a continued narrative. - Perfect for children to read themselves or to be read to because of the pictures on every page, but some of the pictures might scare children. - Classic book which is great for all ages
The illustrations in the book are superb and well detailed. The story teaches a very important lesson that children and people of all ages can always keep in mind and remember. The ginger bread boy was fast, courageous, full of life and joy... but he was also disobedient, disrespectful to his elders, and naive.
In life, no matter how smart you are, how athletic you are, how grown you are, you can always learn from someone else. It is important not to take people for granted, and listen to the voice of reason. The ginger bread boy was defiant to his parents, and he was to full of himself. Because of his inexperience of life, he got himself trapped in a situation he was unable to get himself out of.
Despite remembering hardly a thing about this tale now, I think rating it five stars equates to how much I enjoyed this story when I read it countless times as a child.
Reckon 1984 would be the last time I read it, but it's hard to be accurate all these years on.
Recommended to anyone aged in single figures or for grown-ups feeling nostalgic.
Read to students during small reading group. The children enjoy these books about the Gingerbread people. They all have the same storyline with different characters. Younger students can predict what is coming next.