Gingerbread Baby

Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett is a beautifully illustrated version of this classic tale. One cold winter day, Matti and his mother decide to make a gingerbread boy. They take down the old cookbook and blue bowl. Unfortunately, Matti can't wait the full eight minutes for the gingerbread boy to cook, despite the ubiquitous warning in the cookbook, "DO NOT peek." After five minutes, Matti opens the oven door, and out pops the gingerbread baby.

I am the Gingerbread Baby,
Fresh from the pan.
If you want me,
Catch me if you can.

The gingerbread baby proceeds to be chased by Matti's parents, a tabby cat, a dog, goats, Martha and Madeline (who's braids he ties in a knot), a fox, etc. Only Matti is smart enough to figure out that if you want to catch a gingerbread baby, you have to build it a gingerbread house.

If you are not familiar with Jan Brett's books, she often leaves little picture clues in the sidebar of each page as foreshadowing. In the Gingerbread Baby, Matti can be seen baking the gingerbread house, but only the most observant child will notice this upon first reading. Jan's illustrations are so beautiful and detailed, that they bring a certain old world charm to this tale. As my pacifist daughter said, this is a nice version of the story, because no one ate the gingerbread baby.

You can view Jan reading and drawing the Gingerbread Baby here. She has an amazing website that is worth exploring with your child. I have yet to read her new book The Three Snow Bears.