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"I am the Gingerbread Baby,
Fresh from the pan.
If you want me,
Catch me if you can!" That sassy cookie! When Matti opens the oven door just a little too soon, out pops a gingerbread baby instead of the gingerbread boy he was expecting. Eluding all efforts to catch him, the flat, becandied baby is chased around the village and into the countryside. He mercilessly taunts Matti's parents, a cat, the milk and cheese man, goats, villagers, a fox, and more. In a less traumatic twist on the classic Gingerbread Boy story, this Gingerbread Baby even outfoxes the fox. Sure he's bratty, but he doesn't deserve the gruesome end the Gingerbread Boy usually comes to. Matti makes sure this naughty but appealing little one ends up right where he belongs.
This fresh-baked version of the traditional nursery story is brought to you from the creative and award-winning ovens of Jan Brett. Best known for such favorites as The Mitten and The Hat, she has illustrated many other familiar folktales. Her intricately detailed paintings, with their pretty, illuminated borders, are a perfect fit for the Swiss mountainside setting of this cozy old tale. And don't miss the Gingerbread Baby plush! (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
Brett (The Mitten; Comet's Nine Lives) presents a rather wordy and wandering version of "The Gingerbread Boy." Impatient for the gingerbread man to bake the full eight minutes that is specified in the cookbook, Matti opens the oven door prematurely and a doughy baby jumps out instead: "I am the Gingerbread Baby,/ Fresh from the pan./ If you want me,/ Catch me if you can." The cherubic child remains at home while his parents and a smattering of animals lead a cumulative chase through the Swiss countryside, depicted in minutely detailed pictures. Within the artist's characteristically intricate borders, windowlike cutouts shaped like gingerbread cookie cutters reveal Matti's activities at home: he bakes, constructs and decorates an elaborate gingerbread house, which he then places in a clearing in the woods. Well ahead of his pursuers, the fugitive cookie discovers the elaborate structure and happily takes refuge inside. The grand finale allows youngsters to lift a flap shaped like the gingerbread house to uncover its new resident, smiling and winking. Brett's fetching art offsets her rather facile narrative in a book likely to please her faithful fans and holiday gift shoppers. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-One might ask if there is a need for yet another retelling of "The Gingerbread Boy." If it's this version, the answer is "yes!" Although the story remains true to the original tale, Brett has added her own touches and a surprise ending. The gingerbread baby slyly eludes both humans and animals, including the wily fox. It takes a very clever little boy to outwit and catch the spicy treat. The illustrations are pure Brett and feature warm colors against a snow-white landscape. The expressive human and animal forms carry this rollicking tale along to its conclusion. Many of the pages have intricate frames depicting scenes from the story and cookie-shaped cutouts that will delight youngsters. Because this story has more characters than other versions, the author cuts some of the repetition to preserve the fast pace. Of course, the familiar refrain "Catch me if you can!" will have little ones joining in and rooting for the gingerbread baby. A delightful confection.Barbara Buckley, Jericho Public Library, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it's a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, ``Catch me if you can.'' The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
Remember how the Gingerbread Boy is eaten by the fox? Well, not this Gingerbread Baby in a delicious twist to a favorite old tale.
It all begins when Matti opens the oven too soon and out jumps a cheeky little Gingerbread Baby. He leads Matti's mother and father, the dog and the cat, and a whole colorful cast of characters on a rollicking chase through the village and into the forest, staying just out of reach, daring them to catch him all along the way.
But Matti's not with them. He's at home in the borders making what turns out to be a gingerbread house into which the Gingerbread Baby runs. Only Matti knows he is safely inside. And readers will too when they look under the lift-the-flap gingerbread house at the end of the story, and there he is!
Card catalog description
A young boy and his mother bake a gingerbread baby that escapes from their oven and leads a crowd on a chase similar to the one in the familiar tale about a not-so-clever gingerbread man.
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