A new rendition of a beloved classic by award-winning author/illustrator team Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock. Run! Run! Fast as you can! You can't catch me! I'm the Gingerbread Man! I've run from a husband! I've run from a wife! I've run from a butcher with a carving knife! I've run from a cow, and a muddy old sow, and I'll run from you, too! I can! I can!Jim Aylesworth's fresh, spirited tale --- to be read LOUD out loud --- and Barbara McClintock's expressive, exquisitely drawn characters combine to create a glorious new rendition of the favorite story about that sassy but delicious little cookie. PreSchool-Grade 2?An excellent rendition of an oft-told tale that demonstrates that there is always room for one more Gingerbread Man on the shelves. Aylesworth has done a perfect job of shaping the text to read aloud smoothly with good repetitive phrases that ring true, such as the Gingerbread Man's response to his pursuers: "No! No!/I won't come back!/I'd rather run/Than be your snack!" The text is matched beautifully with an excellent layout and McClintock's illustrations. Using watercolors, sepia ink, and gouache, the artist has created pictures with an old-fashioned look to them, which she attributes to the influence of the 19th-century French illustrator, Grandville. They also are somewhat reminiscent of the work of Randolph Caldecott. McClintock's anthropomorphic animals are wonderfully realized, especially the wily fox, and the Gingerbread Man is a saucy fellow dressed in a blue jacket and hat, with hands on hips and a big smile. The book comes complete with a recipe on the back cover. A satisfying version in every way.?Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ages 2^-5. With a chanting, rhythmic text and vital narrative pictures, this version of the popular folktale will be a favorite for storytelling with young preschoolers. Egielski's recent Gingerbread Boy (1997) is set in modern-day New York City, but McClintock's illustrations, in watercolor, sepia ink, and gouache, are traditional in style and setting, reminiscent of some early Mother Goose illustrations. Once upon a time, a cheerful old man and a cheerful old woman in their old-fashioned cozy house decided to make a gingerbread man. A series of pictures shows how they bake him, step by step. Then to their consternation, he pops out of the oven and runs away. Now they are no longer smiling--they are mad. They race after the smiling little gingerbread kid, who shouts, "No! No! I won't come back! I'd rather run than be your snack!" He runs from a butcher, an elegant cow, a muddy old sow--until a sly, bookish fox tricks him and gobbles him up. There is a great scene in which all the pursuers, human and animal, stand fuming and helpless while the fox licks its lips and leaves not even a crumb. Hazel Rochman A traditional cumulative tale, which Aylesworth (My Sister's Rusty Bike, 1996, etc.) endows with a lively pace, is illustrated in a decidedly old-fashioned style, giving the book the look and feel of a reproduction of an old edition. Working with precise pen-and-ink, McClintock portrays the cozy home of an elderly couple, dressed in Victoriana and in possession of a great wood-burning stove. Her work has never been more animated than in the scenes of the two-dimensional gingerbread man running away, exuberantly eluding everyone elsethe couple, a butcher, and a cow and pig dressed in human clothesuntil he is devoured by a fox. The portrayals of a cow and pig are more bizarre than charming, and the too-obvious wrinkles on the elderly people's faces are one example of eccentric choices on the part of the illustrator.With Richard Egielski's The Gingerbread Boy (1997) hot off the press and other fine variations of the tale still in print, it's hard to make the case for this one, other than to appreciate its antique look. (Picture book/folklore. 4-6) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Bank Street College Best Children's Books of the YearSchool Library Journal Best BooksNew York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year* "Alyesworth has done a perfect job of shaping the text to read aloud smoothly with good repetitive phrases that ring true,...McClintock's anthropomorphic animals are wonderfully realized... The book comes complete with a recipe on the back cover. A satisfying version in every way." -- School Library Journal , starred review* "The familiar tale of the cookie that outruns a series of countrified characters until he is outwitted by a fox, finds a fresh makeover...The lively rhythm of the narrative keeps the beat for the parade of runners and propels readers along with it. By the time the baked boy reaches the handsomely turned-out fox reading under a tree, most readers will be utterly disarmed-and may well wish to come back again and again." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review Run! Run! Fast as you can! You can't catch