Customer Reviews

Musubi Man: Hawaii's Gingerbread Man

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My kids, aged 6 and 10, and I have enjoyed this book for several years. The story is hilarious and clever without trying to be. Because it's a Hawaiian style re-telling of the gingerbread man, it's familiar, yet fresh and different. The illustrations are great and make the story come alive, but are also filled with enough wacky detail to make them enjoyable to look at again and again. My kids and I have read a lot of books together, most only once, but this one is so great we read it again and again.

My Kindergarteners love this book! My city (Las Vegas)has a large Hawaiian population. I asked a parent to make a Musubi Man (using a gingerbread man cookie cutter as a guide)and we had great discussions about his ingredients (which my students were more familiar with than I was!)I'll use this book during every Gingerbread unit from now on.

The author took the traditional Gingerbread Story, changed it to reflect Hawaiian life, and came up with a delightful fairytale.

This is a cute version of the Gingerbread Man books, but in the Hawaii's stand point. IT's well written, and is a hardcover book. This book made me laugh, and made me remember my childhood growing up on Maui. The Hawaiian words are written on the back of the book for a reference in case you don't know what certain words mean, very good additon to the book. My children love this book and they are well above the Gingerbread Man stage. Cute book!

The depiction of the Hawaiian culture through the art is nice. The story
is unusual to say the least, and unless the children knew the story or poem of the traditional story of the Gingerbread Man, the children would not get
the humor perhaps. It is, however a story with a moral to it and for children
perhaps age 7 through 9, or 10, it could be enjoyed. The book arrived
promptly in excellent condition. B. Sahota

I am a kindergarten teacher and the book was way above my class level and the children did not respond well to the story. However, this book has great illustraions and a glossary of terms in the back.

The Musubi Man is a local retelling of the popular children's tale, The Gingerbread Man. Takayama puts her own Hawaii twist on the story by including such colorful characters as the poi dog, mynah bird, mongoose and a surfer, as well as numerous local staples like ono food and beautiful, realistic settings. Illustrator Pat Hall does a tremendous job translating Takayama's story into a vibrant and colorful world. You cannot help but smile at all of the small details that Hall includes in each picture; things in the background like taro patches, humpback whales, one mynah bird in one papaya tree, and numerous other flora, fauna and locations we associate with Hawaii.

We may all know the tale of the Gingerbread Man, but The Musubi Man is rich full of the flavors of Hawaii-literally; the Musubi Man is made from limu hair, a nori jacket, two takuan eyes, and ebi nose and a mouth made of red ginger. And of course, he wouldn't be anything without the ubemoshi heart! The best part is that the tale does not end here. The life of the Musubi Man continues in two more books in the series: The Musubi Man's New Friend and The Musubi Baby.

Great part of a literature comparison of versions of The Gingerbread Boy story. My Kindergartners enjoyed this and it fit well with the Hawaii theme of our classroom this year.

We have this book, as well as Prince and the Li Hing Mui, and Sumorella. It's easier to read in that it doesn't have the "pidgeon" English that is used in the dialogue two of this authors other books, but I think that "accent" is part of what makes Prince and Sumorella fun and unique. This book uses local references like poi and taro and of course musubi, but isn't very interesting otherwise. The illustrator is different than the person who did the other two and the illustrations are not as fun. In fact, I find them a little creepy. The Musubi man is freaky looking and his hair looks, well, like body hair normally under clothing. The eys of all the animals look like they are dilated on street drugs. I would recommend Takayama's other books over this one.

A very cute version of the Gingerbread Boy...great illustrations and language of the Hawaiian culture.