The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School [Hardcover]

Laura Murray (Author), Mike Lowery (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: July 7, 2011 | Age Range: 5 - 8 years | Lexile Measure: 580L (What's this?)

When a class leaves for recess, their just-baked Gingerbread Man is left behind. But he's a smart cookie and heads out to find them. He'll run, slide, skip, and (after a mishap with a soccer ball) limp as fast as he can because: "I can catch them! I'm their Gingerbread Man!"

With help from the gym teacher, the nurse, the art teacher and even the principal, a deliciously sweet ending is served up for both the Gingerbread Man and the children who made him.

 Teachers often use the Gingerbread Man story to introduce new students to the geography and staff of schools, and this fresh, funny twist on the original can be used all year long. Includes a poster with fun activities!

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Murray's children's debut, when a gingerbread man made by schoolchildren gets left behind at recess, he decides he has to find his class:"I'll run and I'll run, / As fast as I can. / I can catch them! I'm their / Gingerbread Man!" Teachers looking for a new way to start off the school year will eat this one up.  - Kirkus Reviews  

The Gingerbread Man heads to school in this delightful reshuffling of the traditional tale. Told in spot-on, deadpan rhyme and illustrated in large, comic-book-style panels, this title will leave kids giggling as they follow the G-man's efforts to be reunited with his class -- Booklist * Starred Review, Ilene Cooper

" - a spry, role-reversing story told through comic-book panels and buoyant verse, the gingerbread man is the pursuer, not the pursued. Cookie-related humor runs through both Murray's rhymes and Lowery's cartoons, as the gingerbread man--as dapper as he is determined--tracks a group of students through their school." - Publisher's Weekly

"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. . . . This reinvention of a venerable figure is funny to the max."  

(Booklist, starred review )

About the Author

Laura Murray, a former teacher, began each school year with a unit in which kids would follow candy and crumb trails to find their missing Gingerbread Man. She lives in McLean, Virgina. This is her first book. 
Mike Lowery lives in a tiny cottage surrounded by trees where he mostly just makes art. His work has been seen in galleries and publications internationally and he is Professor of Illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. His daughter Allister loves it when he draws faces on their bananas.

Product Details

• Age Range: 5 - 8 years
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (July 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399250522
• ISBN-13: 978-0399250521
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 0.4 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Join the Gingerbread Man's adventures with the VIDEO BOOK TRAILER for THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL. Click on the Laura's Author Central page link above. Loads of fun!

Before becoming a children's author, Laura Murray was an Elementary teacher, specializing in Early Childhood. At the beginning of each school year, a freshly baked Gingerbread Man managed to escape from her class. She says, "We hung missing posters and searched the halls, discovering crumbs and dropped candies, as we asked school staff members where he might be. But somehow, he always found his way back to our classroom on his own - one smart cookie! Still I couldn't help but wonder what adventures he'd had while he was out and about."

Visit www.LauraMurrayBooks.com for a curriculum-linked teacher's guide, fun printables, and extension activities.

Laura is a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children.) She is a two- time award winner of the Florida Freelance Writers Association Children's Writing Competition and co-founder of an online forum for mother-writers.

When Laura's not writing, she loves to return to the classroom with fun, interactive, and informational school presentations.

Author picture taken by one of Laura's favorite authors, Sonya Sones.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is hysterical! July 25, 2011

By Deborah Sandford

Format:Hardcover

A class of students bakes a gingerbread man; the teacher calls, "Recess!" and the students race out the door, leaving the gingerbread man behind.

"I'll run and run, as fast as I can. I can catch them! I'm their gingerbread man!"

His misadventures are too funny as he scrambles to find his class.

The rhyming format incorporates the narration, as well as the dialogue of the gingerbread man and the other characters.

I hope this team (Laura Murray, author and Mike Lowery, artist) continue to entertain readers--we need more feel-good, laugh-until-you-cry books!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gingerbread Man on the Loose July 14, 2011

By Alison Jackson

Format:Hardcover

This is a fun and original take on an old favorite. Murray's Gingerbread Man is left behind in the classroom and creates all manner of mischief before the children return from recess. The illustrations are simple and childlike, and the cookie's adventures fit perfectly into school and library activities. A must for teachers and caregivers!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a winner! August 4, 2011

By Margaret Oliver

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Gingerbread Man Loose in School" is the complete package! It's fun, engaging, full of action, and it has extras - a removable map in the back of the book, and a website with even more ideas. As a teacher, I appreciate its strong use of visual supports and rhyming to increase comprehension for young readers. Laura Murray has immediately become one of my favorite authors, and I can't wait for her next book!