Ginger Bear [Hardcover]

Mini Grey (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Any child who loves cookies will enjoy this inventive tale of Ginger Bear, a cookie in the shape of a bear, who sets out to avoid being eaten. As she did with Traction Man Is Here! and The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, Mini Grey has created a totally original book that is fun to read and fun to look at.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2—This edgy story has some British touches and a slightly arch tone that add a lovely fairy-tale flavor to it. When Horace makes a cookie in the shape of a bear, he can't wait to eat it, but then it is dinner time, then he has brushed his teeth, and there is nothing to do but put his gingerbread bear in a tin for safekeeping on his pillow. When Ginger Bear wakes up, there is no one to play with so he decides to bake himself some friends. He makes enough fabulously iced and decorated cookie bears to have a circus, one so thrilling that no one notices the approach of Bongo the dog. While the cookie carnage that follows might rattle a few tender souls, others will beg for a rereading of the crumbled cookie spread, and all will be satisfied by Ginger Bear's clever and considerably safer new career in a bake-shop display window. Wonderful art that matches the text in its ability to be comfortingly familiar and perverse at the same time pleases with a great many witty details and an appealingly varied layout. The nearly psychedelic illustration of Ginger Bear squeezing pink icing over rapturous cookies as the backdrop shimmers with sprinkles is a treat in itself. This is a tasty choice for fans of Traction Man Is Here! (Knopf, 2005) as well as anyone who's enjoyed the various retellings of "The Gingerbread Boy."—Susan Moorhead, New Rochelle Public Library, NY
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From Booklist

Horace's mum gives him a lump of dough, and he uses a cookie cutter to make a gingerbread bear, but whenever Horace is about to take a chomp, his mother makes him wait; finally, it's time for bed. As Horace sleeps, the bear wakes up and decides to do some baking. Soon, Ginger Bear has a whole slew of confectionary friends; in fact, a circus ensues with tumblers, trapezists, and strongmen. Bongo the dog ends it all in a double-page-spread massacre with bits and pieces of the cookies here, there, and everywhere. Ginger Bear escapes, however, to a place where a cookie can be safe—a window display in a bakery shop. The story in this new offering from the author and illustrator of Traction Man Is Here (2005) is light, but the artwork is strong and inventive, with so much rich detail that readers will hardly know where to look first. Grey, who uses watercolor, acrylics, and collaged photographs for the fantastic mix, notes, "No cookies were harmed in the making of the pictures." Cooper, Ilene

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375842535
• ISBN-13: 978-0375842535
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 0.4 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mini Grey was given her name after being born in a Mini in a car park in Newport, Wales. She studied for an MA in Sequential Illustration at Brighton under the tutelage of John Vernon Lord. Mini also worked as a primary school teacher in Oxford, where she now lives.

Her books include Egg Drop, The Pea and the Princess (shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal), Biscuit Bear (winner of the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award), Traction Man is Here (winner of the Boston Horn Book Award and shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal), The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (winner of the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Bronze Award and winner of the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal), and Traction Man meets Turbodog. Mini Grey is one of the Big Picture's ten Best New Illustrators.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my 6-year-old likes this one, September 30, 2007

By 

Holly Holton (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ginger Bear (Hardcover)

We are borrowing this from the library and my daughter wants me to read it to her over and over again. The story is very cute. At first you think it's about Horace, a little boy who has made a delicious cookie, but then it takes a twist and you enter the world of the cookie. The artwork is really great. This author can do it all. I recommend this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ginger Bear is a gem., October 16, 2007

By 

reading mom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ginger Bear (Hardcover)

My four and six year old love this book. We picked it up from the library and it became an instant classic. It is on my "to buy" list. For my four year old it is a fun and imaginative story of a gingerbread bear that escapes being eaten by his maker, Horace. My six year old and I enjoy the humor and irony. My favorite line, "Bongo the dog loved cookies too (but not in a way that is particulary good for cookies)." The illustrations are great too.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can the short-lived cookie friends survive?, October 6, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ginger Bear (Hardcover)

Mini Grey's GINGER BEAR stars a gingerbread bear with a mind of his own. Ginger Bear loves to whip up cookie friends who perform circus acts and thwart a dangerous dog who loves cookies. Can the short-lived cookie friends survive?