The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas

September 14, 2015
In the Gingerbread Man’s third picture book, he and his human classmates are busy delivering gifts around town, from homemade cards and treats to songs “with jingle-bell beats.” The Gingerbread Man is eager to participate, but not unlike Frosty the Snowman’s touchy relationship with the weather, slushy streets and legs made of dough are a less-than-ideal combination (“I’ll hobble right over, as fast as I can./ I’ll give my gift, too, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”). Lowery’s use of comics-style panels and the nursery rhyme rhythms of Murray’s verse keep the story moving as quickly as its confectionary hero. The emphasis on generosity and humble, heartfelt gifts makes for sweet holiday reading, and a visit to the bakery ensures that the Gingerbread Man gets to deliver his gift and gains some new all-weather gear. Ages 5–8. Author’s agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. Illustrator’s agency: Lilla Rogers Studio.

September 1, 2015
In his third exploratory adventure, the gregarious Gingerbread Man scampers through town delivering gifts to community helpers. As Christmas approaches, the Gingerbread Man goes back to school to help a classroom of kids prepare cards, cookies, and songs for their adult friends around town. With their teacher, the group delivers their gifts to a wide variety of adults in helping occupations, including workers in shops, offices, and on city streets. Both the schoolchildren and the community workers include people of different ethnicities, and the adult characters include a female police officer, vet, and doctor. The Gingerbread Man goes off on his own to deliver a special card to the baker who helped create him, and in return she makes him some new chocolate boots to protect his crumbling feet from the snow. Back at school the Gingerbread Man and the kids present their teacher with a touching tribute and a special thank-you banner. The rhyming text is patter-perfect, with lots of humor and action and nicely supported by busy, computer-generated illustrations with the story skillfully integrated in text blocks and speech balloons. The journey through town required a sophisticated design to include all the group's stops, but their travels are clearly conveyed, even including a map of the community. A jolly treat with a sweet acknowledgement of the gifts teachers give their students all year long. (Picture book. 3-7)

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October 1, 2015

PreS-Gr 2-"I'll think of a present. I know that I can! I want to give, too. I'm the GINGERBREAD MAN!" It's Christmas, and the spunky Gingerbread Man is back. Last seen in The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (2011) and The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck (2013, both Putnam), this time Gingerbread Man and his class are preparing for the holiday season by creating cards and gifts of appreciation. What follows is a class trip through the town to pass these thank yous to the local community helpers, including a police lady, a garbage man, and a librarian. Gingerbread Man wants to deliver his gift to the community helper he appreciates most: the baker who helped the class bake him. But when the speedster's cookie feet meet the wet city sidewalks, disaster almost occurs. VERDICT With its fun, bouncy text and comic book panel-style illustrations, the smart cookies who appreciated the character's previous adventures will eat this one up.-Brooke Sheets, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2015
Grades K-2 The goggle-eyed Gingerbread Man, star of Murray and Lowery's eponymous series, has a heartwarming holiday message to share. In comics-style panels, Gingerbread Man and his classmates ready some handmade gifts to distribute to their neighbors. Gingerbread Man carefully creates his own gift for a very special someone, and when he and his class embark on a neighborhood jaunt to spread holiday cheer, he tarries behind to deliver it. On the way, his cookie feet get soggy and crumbly, but, luckily, his special someone is the town baker, and after fawning over his gift, she fashions a pair of waterproof chocolate booties. Lowery's childlike figures playfully fill the panels with friendly faces, while the bouncy rhythm, particularly the recurring refrain that riffs on the classic You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man! will make read-alouds a treat. Though the holiday focus is solidly on Christmas, it sticks to fairly neutral themes of gift giving, good cheer, and showing appreciation for neighbors and teachers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2015
This jolly book, in addition to bringing us another entertaining Gingerbread Man escapade (The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, rev. 9/11; The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck, rev. 7/13), serves as a sort of pre-origin story for our hero. He may have been baked in the oven by schoolchildren, but where'd they get the recipe? Over the course of this book the students dash around town spreading cheer to community helpers. At the story's climax, the Gingerbread Man meets his maker (don't worry, it's just in the literal sense; though there is some actual cookie-peril along the way). Lowery's festive illustrations of cookie and co., done in pencil, traditional screen printing, and digital color, are a treat, while Murray's rhymes are continually surprising and satisfying. She can make you work, but the payoff is there: Next came a garbage man picking up trash, / so we dropped off some goodies to stash on his dash. elissa gershowitz

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)