Customer Reviews

The Gingerbread Boy

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Set in New York City, Richard Egielski's version of The Gingerbread Boy is a treat for the eyes. The illustrations are richly detailed and colorful, and my 3 year old son loves this modern version. He and I talk about the characters and details, telling stories within the story. Our favorite illustration shows of a group of construction workers who pause in their work to chase that irresistible gingerbread boy. My son really loves the chase scenes, but the picture of the fox eating the gingerbread boy is a little scary. We highly recommend this version to readers 3 and up.

As a kindergarten teacher, this is a wonderful addition to my Gingerbread Man Unit. The city elements add so much fun to the gingerbread man story. The class loves the rat. I am able to extend the learning by using compare/ contrast discussions and Venn diagrams. If you are looking for a fun book to read this would fit the bill!

my family loves this book - especially after having lived in NY for awhile. it shows the subway, the fire escapes of apartment buildings, construction workers...everything you have in NY. it's a fun, very entertaining book. i'd recommend it to city lovers, and have bought a few for people who have visited us.

I really like this Gingerbread book because it is hardcover and it will last a long time. I would definitely recommend another person to buy a hardcover. I really like the storyline of this book; it is one of my favorite gingerbread books.

The language of this storybook is rhythmic and compelling, of course, and the illustrations are superb. The two-dimensional gingerbread boy moves through the city -- out the window, down the fire escape, past the garbage cans in the alley, across the clothesline, up on the I-beam, into the subway station, onto the train, through the park... then he hops a ride on the nose of the oh-so obliging fox, and GULP! Gone!

Great version of this story -- give it a try!

I bought this book while I was still teaching because there are several Gingerbread stories. Not only is it fun to read, but because of the various versions it was easy to use this book for comparing and contrasting.

I bought and enjoyed reading this book as part of an elementary school reading mentoring program. The illustrations were great and added fun to the story.

I love this book and have read it to my students every year. I have always wanted to own this book and as luck would have it, our school library copy went missing. I contacted you and found it once again. What I love most about this book are the beautiful illustrations of NYC..........it brings back my childhood as I grew up in Manhattan. I recommend this book to all.

In a hilariously reinvented fairy tale, a modern New York couple decide that, since they have no children, the wife will make a gingerbread boy. Their Manhattan tenement fills with the sweet aroma until the gingerbread boy leaps from oven and out the window. Although they plead with him to come back, he throws back the traditional taunt: "Run run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man." The two tumble down the fire escape in hot pursuit, and the chase begins. Along his journey, instead of meeting the usual assortment of barnyard animals and country workers, he encounters a city rat, construction workers, street musicians (he loses them in the subway), and a policeman on horseback who hollers "Stop in the name of the law!" Finally, at the foot of Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, he meets a fox who slyly offers to carry him across the fountain... to his traditional ending.

This ingenious interpretation of the story retains the original version's high spirit, but expresses it in the context of a big-city world which is portrayed with a cunning eye for detail. From the bored expressions of commuters to the pair of men's briefs hanging on an alleyway clothesline, the flight of this edible urbanite provides plenty of wit to satisfy its young audience, while also amusing their parents.

Not everyone will love this modern version, which alters the naive aesthetic of the traditional story, but readers who like this kind of innovation will especially enjoy Egielski's clever sophistication. My only quibble is that the young wife's above-the-knee skirt sometimes hikes a little high in the course of the pell-mell race. If this doesn't bother you, the story is definitely worth checking out.

While the book has lovely artwork, I was disappointed that it was not the story I used to read to my kids. Now, I'm looking for the real story.