We read this to the kids at the elementary school we work at, and along with the book, we have a stuffed Gingerbread Man named Gingy that escapes this book and hides in the library. The kids have to look for him, but they're not allowed to tell me or the other librarian where he is, or he'll move. The goal is to catch him before Christmas break, or he'll make a mess in the library while we're gone. ( )

Surprisingly not horrible! The illustrations were mostly accurate in terms of the books in the different section of the library, although some did make me wonder. I'll be interested to see how the kids respond to it; so many of our classes study the Gingerbread Man story, I think they'll like it. ( )

I absolutely adore this book. ( )

This version of the Gingerbread Man takes you through the library. It shows you some of the sections of the library, and what you'll find in those sections. it brings you through a library tour, while telling the story of the Gingerbread Man. Even though this ending seems like the one from The Gingerbread Man that we're more familiar with, it's quite different. The librarian actually catches the Gingerbread Man in his book, and she places him back on the shelf. ( )

Summary:
The Gingerbread man lives in a specific spot in the Library. One day he breaks free and starts running through the other sections. The Librarian tries to catch him. Along the way several characters from other books in other sections of the library join in on the chase for the Gingerbread man. He taunts them each time that they’ll never catch him. He finally runs out of space and is forced to rely on the help of a fox. The fox almost gobbles him up when the Librarian swoops in just in time. She then carefully returns him to his home.

Personal Experience:
This is a fun book. There are so many fun characters. I took it as a kind of metaphor for when a book gets placed in the wrong section of the library. It can take a while before that book gets back to its home. It also kind of reminded me of the movie Page master, how the book characters come to life. It is a fun twist on the classic story of the Gingerbread man.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1.) Assign each child a book and ask them to think of what character might come out of the book if it were in the special library of this book. I’d have them draw a picture and think of what that character would say to the escaping Gingerbread man.
2.) Have the children write about what their favorite section of the library is and why.
3.) Have the students draw a character out of their favorite book. Ask them to imaging what this character might do to escape the librarian if they broke free from their spot in the school library. ( )