![]() ![]() I joined SCBWI… and then a local writing critique group. What did he want? What was getting in the way of what he wanted? What exciting, funny, or mischievous things could he do in a school? I wanted the story to be from the Gingerbread Man‘s point of view, so I started asking him questions. Those “what if” questions helped me imagine a Gingerbread Man adventure that was sprinkled with fresh, funny twists to set it apart from the traditional tale. ? What if the story was set in a school? What if the story was told by the Gingerbread Man himself? What if he was trying to find the class who made him, instead of running away from them? I started wondering what adventures the Gingerbread Man might have had while he was out and about, and then I began to ask what if. So I decided to try and write a new version. Even though we read many versions of the Gingerbread Man story during the unit, there was not one that mirrored the fun of our school Gingerbread Man chase. My students absolutely loved this unit and would come back years later asking if the Gingerbread Man had escaped yet. LM: Yes, the faculty knew that the GB Man would escape on a specific day and they would join in the fun, often letting the class know that “he just ran through the office, or that they had tried to catch him but he was too fast…” JC: So it’s really a CONSPIRACY!!! The entire upper grade student body plus faculty are in on it. But he always found his way back to our classroom on his own - “one smart cookie!” ![]() LM: We hung missing posters and searched the halls, discovering crumbs and dropped candies, as we asked school staff where he might be. The Masubi Man: Hawaii’s Gingerbread Man by Sandi Takayama ( different setting, characters, ingredients, etc.) īut at the end of the unit, our freshly baked Gingerbread Man always managed to escape from the classroom! ![]() The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett ( different characters and ending) The Cajun Gingerbread Boy by Berthe Amoss ( Cajun “flavored” version, different characters and setting) The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski ( set in New York) The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth ( traditional tale) We used Venn diagrams to discuss similarities and differences of each version. LM: The teachers that do the GB Man unit use different versions of the story to compare and contrast, but I personally liked versions that had variations in setting, plot, main characters, illustration style, or culture. JC: Which versions of the Gingerbread Man story were covered in your class? This is of particular importance to beginning illustration students - that traditional tales can have a unique perspective, dependent upon the story-teller and/or artist. We compared and contrasted different versions of the Gingerbread Man story and used Gingerbread Man activities for each subject. The Gingerbread Man Loose in the Schoolwas inspired by a Kindergarten Gingerbread Man unit I taught at the beginning of each school year. Laura Murray: I was a teacher before becoming a writer. Joy Chu: Tell us about the genesis of The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. ![]()
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