Delaine Ulmer SLIS 5440 Spring 2002

Catch Me if you Can! : Looking for the Gingerbread Man A Thematic Story Collection Study by Delaine Ulmer

Thematic Description and Rationale Throughout history, gingerbread has taken many shapes (men, animals, hearts and flowers) and forms (cookies, cakes, and breads), not only in it’s manufacturing, but also in folklore and legend. The eleventh century brought about gingerbread as a popular fairground treat. In England, there was even village tradition for unmarried women to eat a “gingerbread husband” during the fair in order to increase their chances of finding a real husband. However, it was during the nineteenth century, when the Grimm brothers collected German fairy tales and found the tale of Hansel and Gretel who find a gingerbread house in the woods, that gingerbread began to be romanticized. This is a thematic collection of variations of the traditional English Gingerbread Man folktale. It is not meant to be exhaustive, but instead, a starting place in comparing/contrasting adaptations. There are numerous variations to the Tale Type 2025, The fleeing pancake, many of which will be analyzed in this study. They can be found in many cultures--including Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Russia and the United States. Even within cultures some tales were very different. This tale type has evolved in many fractured versions as well. I also found, in researching this tale type, were variants of the “runaway cookies” motif that entailed princes/husbands made from dough and boys made from clay that rampage through cities. For the purpose of this study, I choose to stay with only the original tale type--although a bibliography of this tale type, fractured versions and related variants is included as well. The purpose of this project is to compare and contrast 10 different versions within three form of analysis. This study focuses attempts to incorporate as many cultural versions as possible. The main concentration of this paper is to examine the cultural morphology of the Gingerbread Man tale in relation to three aspects: characters, setting and plot. The main character changes in relation to the culture of origin and assumes characteristics of that culture. The culturally adapted main character then often requires a new setting. The setting changes to become culturally appropriate for the new main character. The progression of plot in this tale remains, at heart, the same. However, this study found that the plot consistently morphs in certain places. • Characters Do the characters change to fit the culture of the story? Does the gender or age differ between cultures? What are the characters motives and goals? How do the characters change in physical form? Are there are relevant personality types displayed? • Setting What is the time and place? What country or city? How does the setting differ between versions from different cultures? How does the story change based on the cultural setting? How does the story change based on the time when it was written?

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Plot Analysis

Who is involved in the situation? What/Who are the opposing forces? How does the climatic event change? What influences the change in plot? ? How does the story change based on the cultural elements? What cultural elements are important to the story? I found most of my items by searching through the public library and my school library online card catalog and motif indexes, as well as searching the database of the online stores of Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I had several versions in my personal collection and inquired of librarian peers for suggestions. Originally, I planned to include audio versions. However, the wide-range of print versions made me decide to limit my research to print versions only.

Bibliographic Citations United States Aylesworth, Jim. The Gingerbread Man. Scholastic Press, New York, ©1998. An elderly couple bakes the Gingerbread Man, wearing a blue jacket and cap, from scratch—shown step-by-step. He escapes from the wood-burning stove and the chase is on! He runs from a butcher, a cow, a pig—all dressed in human clothes. A sly fox, who carries a book, feigns hearing problems to trick him into getting close enough to be gobbled up. This version is comparable to the traditional tale-although it is depicted in an “old-fashioned” setting and the animals display human traits. The chant is different and the rhyme builds cumulatively throughout the tale. Includes a recipe.

United States Egielski, Richard. The Gingerbread Boy. HarperCollins, New York: ©1997. A big-city retelling of the original version--set in New York City! The Gingerbread Boy escapes from the Manhattan apartment of a childless couple. He is chased by his family, a rat, construction workers, musicians, and a police officer past familiar city scenes--down a fire escape, past garbage cans, across wash lines, into the subway, and through a park. Finally, the Gingerbread Boy meets up with a sly fox that promises to take the boy across the lake to freedom. The outcome is the same as the original tale. Includes recipe. Southwestern (Texas) Kimmel, Erik A. The Runaway Tortilla. Winslow Press, Delray Beach, Florida: ©2000. Tía Lupe and Tío José own a taqueria in Texas that boasts the lightest tortillas. The story is set in a small pueblo village and west Texas desert. The tortilla rolls away escapes and sings a tune that literally “rolls” around the page as she is chased a hungry mob of characters--the couple, two horned toads, three donkeys, four jackrabbits, five rattlesnakes, and six buckaroos. She meets her doom when she encounters

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Señor Coyote who convinces her to get the grasshopper that is stuck in his throat. A southwestern version of the original tale—but with a female main character.

Sweden Brett, Jan. The Gingerbread Baby. G.P. Putnam, New York: ©1999. Matti, a Swiss boy, bakes the Gingerbread Baby all by himself, but is too impatient to follow the recipe directions. As he looks into the oven a little to early, the Gingerbread baby jumps from the oven and escapes. As the story continues with the gingerbread baby being pursued by Matti's mother and father, a tabby cat, a dog, some goats, two little girls, a pig, and, of course, a fox. However, the fox is not the gingerbread baby’s demise. Instead it is Matti’s idea, he races home to work on his plan to catch the Gingerbread Baby as the rest of the chase continues--you can watch the progress of his idea in the sidebars of the pictures. A lift-the-flap page at the end reveals that his plan succeeds when he cleverly catches the Gingerbread baby in a gingerbread house. A clever and not-so tragic twist to the original ending.

Jewish Kimmelman, Leslie. The Runaway Latkes. A. Whitman, Morton Grove, IL: ©2000. A Jewish version featuring several latkes that rolls to escape having no intentions of being eaten in celebration of Hanukkah. The latkes jump from a frying pan and roll away. The three singing latkes are chased by a host of all human characters-Rebecca (the young cook), a rabbi, a cantor, two boys, the mayor and the police. All the rolling around town causes the latkes to feel so hot, so they roll towards a cool river. Just as they plop into the river, appropriately named Applesauce River, the river miraculously and appropriately turns into applesauce. The crowd, hungry from chasing the latkes, eats them up on the spot!

Chinese Compestine, Ying Chang. The Runaway Rice Cake. New York: Simon and Schuster, ©2001. As the poor Chang family prepares to celebrate the Chinese New Year, Momma Chang prepares a the nián-gão (rice cake) which comes to life, jumps out of the pan, and runs away. It runs through the village chased by the Changs, several different animals, and various market-people. It is finally caught when it knocks over a hungry old woman and gets caught in her skirt. The Chang’s offer their only food, the rice cake, and the rice cake willingly gives itself to her. The old woman promptly eats the whole thing, leaving the Changs with nothing at all. However, upon their return home the neighbors, who heard what happened, each bring the Changs a little food. The “kitchen god” then rewards their unselfishness with a feast of food for everyone to share. Includes two recipes, a pronunciation guide and brief information about the Chinese New Year celebration.

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Norway Cauley, Lorinda Bryan. The Pancake Boy: An Old Norwegian Folk Tale. New York: Penguin Putnam, © 1988. The mother, Goody Poody, hungry father and seven children begging for a bite of the sweet, round pancake who overhears them, becomes afraid and jumps out of the frying pan. The chase begins with the family running after the rolling pancake, however they must stop at the bottom of the hill since they are not shown again in the story. To escape his fate, the pancake continues to roll down the road meeting up with a host of characters with rhyming names: Manny Panny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Poosey, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky and Gander Pander. Although all the animals wish to eat the pancake, they do not continue in the chase either. The pancake finally becomes a snack for a Piggy Wiggy who offers to carry it over a brook on his snout. A Norwegian tale of a runaway pancake using some dialectic such as “trice” and “t'other.” Includes recipe.

Russia Sierra, Judy. “The Bun.” Nursery Tales Around the World. New York: Clarion, ©1996. In this Russian variation, the Old Man asks his wife to make him a bun to eat. After she makes the bun, she leaves it on the windowsill to cool. However, the bun has a different idea--it jumps off and rolls away. The bun meets up with several animals during its journey: a hare, a wolf and a bear. Each time it avoids capture and sings a little song. The bun finally meets an unfortunate end when it encounters a fox. The sly fox uses flattery and fakes a hearing problem in order to coax the bun closer. At last, the fox convinces the singing bun to perch upon his tongue so he can hear its song--then snaps the bun up in one bite. This book contains three versions of this tale type--Norway's "The Pancake," Russia's "The Bun," and America's "The Gingerbread Man." Includes source notes.

England Jacobs, Joseph. Johnny-Cake. New York: G.P. Putnam, ©1993. (out of print) An old woman bakes a johnny-cake (a bread made with cornmeal) and places it in the oven to bake while she and her husband go off to work in the garden. The woman leaves her son to tend the oven while the cake bakes. When the boy is not paying attention, the johnny-cake pops out of the oven and rolls out the door. The energetic johnny-cake outruns numerous different characters--the family, well-diggers, ditch-diggers, a bear, and a wolf -that all chase the cake until they are too tired or too far behind to continue. The johnny-cake finally rolls past a clever fox who, instead of giving chase, asks the cake where he is going. When the johnnycake answers, the fox pretends not to hear and the over-confident johnny-cake stops rolling to answer. By enticing the cake to move closer in order to convey his message, the johnny-cake at last becomes a casualty of the cunning fox.

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German Esterl, Arnica. The Fine Round Cake. New York: Four Winds Press, ©1991. In this German variation of the traditional English tale, an old woman wants to bake a fine, round cake one morning. After mixing the necessary ingredients, she leaves her son to watch the cake while she and her husband work in the garden. When the boy’s stomach begins to rumble, he makes the mistake of opening the oven for a peek. The cake, which has sprouted arms and legs, runs right out the door. The cake avoids capture from the boy and his family, two well diggers, two berry-picking girls, a wellclothed bear and a knightly wolf who all tire quickly from the chase. The fine, round cake encounters a fox, dressed in a red gown, lying lazily near a stream. When the fox inquires where the cake is going, the cake finally stops rolling to answer. The fox professes not to hear, coerces the cake to come closer and then gobbles it up.

Story Analysis Character Analysis

Character analysis of this tale type tends to follow the culture of origin. They take on personality traits, dialect and vocabulary associated with that country. Often the fractured versions follow these patterns as well. Main Character The main character changes to fit the culture. The one consistency among cultural variations is that main character is always a food item. The traditional form is a gingerbread man complete with arms and legs. All the many other food items used as main characters are round--such as tortilla, rice cake, bun. latke (potato pancake), cake or pancake. Occasionally, the round food item sprouts arms and legs such as in The Runaway Rice Cake by Compestine and The Fine Round Cake by Esterl, but for the most part the item remains round. The main character is typically male, however in one version, The Runaway Tortilla by Kimmel, the main character is a female. Most cultures depict a young main character with the exception of The Gingerbread Baby by Brett, in which the main character is a baby, and The Gingerbread Man by Aylesworth, in which the main character in a man. The personality of the main character did not seem to be influenced by culture. For the most part, it is a very flat character. However in The Runaway Rice Cake by Compestine, the nián-gão (rice cake) humbly gives itself to the old grandmother that was hungry--this is symbolic of the Chinese respect for the elderly. Secondary Characters All the secondary characters depicted change in some way. They change to fit the setting. They change in number. They change in species. Only one aspect of the secondary characters remain consistent through all cultural variants studied--a husband and wife are featured in the beginning of the story. However, there are three main differences in the couples depicted: elderly, young without children, and middle age with children. In Aylesworth’s The Gingerbread Man the couple is elderly. Both The Runaway Tortilla by Kimmel and The Gingerbread Boy by Egielski show a young childless couple. The remaining variants show couples that already have children. Every version examined contains both animals and people as secondary characters, with one notable exception--The Runaway Latkes by Kimmelman that contains only human secondary characters. However, in some variants the animal characters take on human characteristics such as wearing clothing or reading--as is the case in both The Gingerbread Man by Aylesworth and The Fine Round Cake by Esterl. Only one version

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provides names for all the secondary characters, including the animals--The Pancake Boy by Cauley. Another variation observed is the kind of animal that finally eats the fleeing object produces yet another variant. This character most often is a fox. In motif indexes, the other most common animal is a pig. However, in the culturally adapted desert version, The Runaway Tortilla by Kimmel it is a coyote. Three variants analyzed had humans eating the fleeing food upon capture. The chart below shows the morphology of the characters between versions, both main and secondary. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are the characters involved in the capture and/or eating of the fleeing object.

Version/Author

Country/Culture

Main Character

Secondary Characters

The Gingerbread Man

United States

Clothed Gingerbread Man

Old Man Old Woman Butcher

Cow Sow Fox*

The Gingerbread Boy

New York City

Gingerbread Boy with clothing made from icing

Woman Man Rat Construction Workers

Musicians Policeman Fox*

The Runaway Tortilla

Southwestern/Texas

Lip-stick wearing tortilla

Tía Lupe Tío José 2 Horned toads 3 Donkeys

4 Jackrabbits 5 Rattlesnakes 6 Buckaroos Sénor Coyote*

The Gingerbread Baby

Swiss

Gingerbread baby with candy decoration

Mother Father Matti* Tabby cat Dog Goats

Martha and Madeline Mama Pig Fox Milk and Cheese man Villagers

The Runaway Latkes

Jewish

Round Latkes (potato pancakes)

Rebecca Bloom* Rabbi* Cantor*

2 boys* Mayor* 2 police officers*

The Runaway Rice Cakes

Chinese

Níán-gão (rice cake) with arms and legs

Momma Chang Poppa Chang Ming Da Cong

Pig Village Woman Fisherman Lion dancers Old Woman*

The Pancake Boy

Norwegian

Pancake with arms, legs and pronounced features

Goody-Poody Goodman Poody Seven Children Manny-Panny Henny Penny

Cocky Locky Ducky Lucky Goosey Poosey Gander Pander Piggy Wiggy*

The Johnny-Cake

English

Round Johnny-cake (a bread made with cornmeal)

Old man Old woman Little boy 2 well-diggers

2 ditch-diggers Bear Wolf Fox*

The Fine, Round Cake

German

Wrinkle-faced round Pancake

Old Man Old Woman Little Boy 2 well-diggers

2 girls gathering berries Wolf dressed in armor Fox in a red gown*

The Bun

Russian

Round Bun

Old man Old woman Hare

Wolf Bear Fox*

Jim Aylesworth

Richard Egielski

Eric A. Kimmel

Jan Brett

Leslie Kimmelman

Ying Chang Compestine

Lorinda Bryan Cauley

Joseph Jacobs

Arnica Esterl

Judy Sierra

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Setting

The story setting tends to be more “generic” in nature. The setting is more of a “backdrop”--vague and general. It is not integral to the plot--it could be set anywhere. However, the changes in plot are a result of the changes made to the setting. The plot line simply “makes more sense” to happen a certain way when the culture and backdrop change. This will be examined in more depth in the next section. When examining the setting, the backdrop buildings and scenery is the main focus of change to depict the culture. However, it is not necessary to change the setting in most versions. The time factor also does not appear to make a difference in the story line either. Aylesworth’s The Gingerbread Man takes place in a rural countryside in the early 1900s. The characters’ clothing is what distinguishes the time period. Another version that has a countryside setting is The Pancake Boy by Cauley. These two settings are strikingly similar--although one version is from the United States and the other in Norwegian. In most variants, the only change in setting is very subtle--the types of housing seen in the background. Such is the case The Bun from Russia, Johnny-Cake from England, The Fine Round Cakes from Germany. In several versions examined the setting is much more noteworthy and obvious. The Gingerbread Boy by Egielski is a more modern setting--taking place in inner city New York. The story begins in a Manhattan apartment and continues as the gingerbread boy is pursued through the city streets where you see him running past garbageladen alleys, across clotheslines between buildings and even down in the subway stations. In Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby, the setting is a tiny snow-covered Swiss village surrounded by forests and mountains. The gingerbread baby races through the snow to escape capture by village workers and animals. In the Southwestern version, The Runaway Tortillas, the childless Hispanic couple lives near the Rio Grande in Texas. The runaway tortilla escapes from a taqueria, rolls through pueblos and into the desert encountering a variety of typical desert creatures. The Runaway Rice Cake by Compestine shows a typical village in China from the house style to the street vendors. The characters are dressed in appropriate attire.

Plot Analysis

The traditional tale of the Gingerbread Man follows a progressive plot line as shown below:

Climax Conflict Beginning

Rising Action

Exposition

End

The general plot of the Gingerbread Man tale is as follows: a piece of run away food is pursued by many different characters but consumed in the end. Since the progressive nature of the plot does not allow for significant change in the flow of the plot line, when analyzing how the plot changes it is important to look at where the plot changes as well as these subtle plot differences. This study found the there are three places where the plot line of the story most often varies: • The exposition -- the reason for creation • The conflict -- how the runaway food escapes from its creators • The climatic event -- how the food is caught, the trick of the captor and the manner of consumption.

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The Exposition

We most often assume that the reason for creation in this folktale is that the elderly couple cannot have children of their own; therefore they bake a food object to serve as a surrogate child. However, when studying this motif across cultures, this reason for creation appeared only in “original” (not fractured) versions originating in the United States, as was the case in The Gingerbread Boy by Egielski and The Gingerbread Man by Aylesworth. Most often found was the object was created for the purpose of eating the food item and that the characters already had a child or children already. This was the case with versions found in Russia, Norway, England, Sweden and Germany, as well as in the fractured The Runaway Tortilla by Kimmel. The Jewish version and the Chinese version explained the creation of the runaway food item as a preparation for a holiday celebration.

The Conflict

There were two significant distinctions in the manner in which the fleeing object escapes. However, could not be grouped culturally. The versions from Sweden, Germany, England and United States all show the object jumping from on oven. Norwegian, Chinese and the two fractured versions had the runaway food escape directing from the frying pan or griddle. In the Russian version, The Bun, the object rolls away after being placed on a windowsill to cool.

The Climatic Event

The next place where divergence is seen is in the climatic event. Although there are no distinctions between versions to compare culturally, there are three notable points in plot change. First, who is involved in the capture of the food? This is discussed previously in the character section of this analysis, but will be restated as it also has cultural characteristics as well. The motif of being captured by a fox is found most often in numerous different cultures, such as United States, Germany, England, and Russia. The motif of being captured by a pig in found in Norway. Three variants show the captors as human--The Runaway Latkes by Kimmel, The Runaway Rice Cake by Compestine, and The Gingerbread Baby by Brett. Second, is the method of capture--which varies widely. The two most commonly recognized motifs include: Offering a ride over a body of water until water gets so deep the fleeing food get too close to mouth of the captor and feigning hearing difficulties until the fleeing food gets too close to mouth of the captor. However, other variants show capture by trickery: retrieving a grasshopper stuck in the throat in The Runaway Tortilla by Kimmel and enticing into a gingerbread house and shutting the doors as in The Gingerbread Baby by Brett. Two other version show completely different methods of capture--The Runaway Rice Cake by Compestine show the rice cakes being captured by bumping into an old woman and The Runaway Latkes by Kimmelman show the latkes rolling into a river of applesauce. Third, how is the food consumed is the final variation in the climatic event. Seven of the ten versions analyzed showed the runaway food being swallowed or gobbled up by the captor. In The Runaway Latkes and The Runaway Rice Cake both are eaten bite-bybite by the humans that capture them. The difference is in the former, the food is shared among a group and in the latter, one woman eats the food. The Gingerbread Baby by Brett is the only version in which the fleeing food is not eaten! Instead, the author gives a not-so-tragic twist to the ending by allowing the gingerbread baby to stay alive and live “happily ever after” in a house built just for him.

Summary

In a final assessment of this study’s findings, it is difficult to determine any true consistencies between cultural variants. The only consistent trait discovered was the main character depicted as a

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round food object. The variations themselves follow no distinct pattern. They vary due to culture/country, author and time of publication. There were two aspects of this research project that were extremely challenging. First, the most daunting task was finding so many different versions of the Gingerbread Man. Many times I felt my research was “out of control” because I kept finding new versions and variants to this tale. Narrowing the focus of the project to incorporate variants of a similar tale type proved difficult. Second, some of versions that I would have preferred to use were hard to find due to the fact they are considered rare finds, old editions or were out of print. This project could be used to support the use of comparing/contrasting as a strong teaching tool for students’ understanding of story structure. Using a PowerPoint show to present these findings to students, as well as introducing methods of story analysis could expand it. Students could then pick several versions of a story to compare/contrast them with different forms of analysis and create their own presentation.

Other Versions: Traditional, Cultural and Fractured • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Amoss, Berthe. The Cajun Gingerbread Boy. More Than A Card, ©1999. Brown, Marcia. The Bun: A Tale from Russia. New York: Harcourt, ©1972. Clarion, Susan. The Gingerbread Doll. New York: Clarion, ©1993. Cook, Scott. The Gingerbread Boy. New York: Random House, ©1987. Galdone, Paul. The Gingerbread Boy. New York: Clarion, ©1975. Ginsburg, Mirra. The Clay Boy: adapted from a Russian Folktale. New York: Greenwillow Books, ©1997. Haviland, Virginia. “Johnny-cake.” Favorite fairy Tales from Around the World. New York: Beech Tree, ©1994. Hearne, Betsy. “Pinto Smalto.” Beauties & Beasts. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, ©1993. (Italian) Hearne, Betsy. “The Dough Prince.” Beauties & Beasts. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press, ©1993. (West Virginian) Hiller, Margaret. The Little Cookie. Cleveland: Modern Curriculum Press, ©1981. Jameson, Cynthia. The Clay Pot Boy. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegen, ©1973. (Russia) Jarrell, Randall. The Gingerbread Rabbit. New York: HarperCollins, ©1995. Jones, Carol. The Gingerbread Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ©2002. Kimmel, Eric A. The Gingerbread Man. New York: Holiday House, ©1993. Langton, Jane. The Hedgehog Boy: A Latvian Tale. New York: Harper Collins, ©1985. Leland, Debbie. The Jalapeno Man. College Station, Texas: Wildflower Run, ©2000. Lindman, Maj. Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Gingerbread. Morton Grove, IL: A. Whitman, ©1994. McCaughrean, Geraldine. “The Gingerbread Baby.” The Bronze Cauldron. New York: Simon and Schuster, ©1997. (Palestine) Pomerantz, Charlotte. Whiff, Sniff, Nibble, and Chew: the Gingerbread Boy Retold. New York: Greenwillow, ©1984. (out of print) Rockwell, Anne. “The Gingerbread Man.” The Three Bears and 15 Other Stories. New York: Crowell, ©1975. Rowe, John A. The Gingerbread Man: An Old English Folktale. North South Books, ©1996. Sawyer, Ruth. Journey Cake, Ho! New York: Viking Press, ©1953.

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Scieszka, Jon. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. New York: Viking, ©1992. Sierra, Judy. “The Pancake.” Nursery Tales Around the World. New York: Clarion, ©1996. (Norway) Sierra, Judy. “The Gingerbread Man.” Nursery Tales Around the World. New York: Clarion, ©1996. Stobbs, William. Johnny Cake. New York: Viking Penguin, ©1973. (out of print) Takayama, Sandi. The Musubi Man. Island Book Shelf, © 1997. (Hawaiian) Uchida, Yoshiko. “The Rice Cake that Rolled Away.” The Magic Listening Cap: More Folktales from Japan. New York: Harcourt, ©1955. Ziefert, Harriet. Gingerbread Boy. New York: Puffin, ©1995.

Websites:

Gingerbread Man Thematic Unit A five-day thematic unit for grades Pre-K-2. Includes printable worksheets.

http://www.kidzone.ws/thematic/gingerbread/

The Kindergarten Connection: The Gingerbread Man An Integrated Unit Not only does it provide language arts and math curriculum for lesson plans, it links to an order page where additional gingerbread man units, games, and stamps may be purchased.

http://www.kconnect.com/kc-integrated.html

Jim Aylesworth Page: Classroom Connections Discusses very briefly some possible classroom activities for using his book. The best part of this site is that it provides a worthwhile bibliography of other versions of The Gingerbread Boy.

http://www.ayles.com/classroom.html

Hubbard’s Cupboard: The Gingerbread Man Provides activities for five days of large group activities. The best part of this site is it provides numerous links to other sites including other gingerbread man units, masks to make, and a downloadable booklet. http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/the_gingerbread_man.html Jan Brett's Gingerbread Projects Go to activities and then scroll down to find projects on gingerbread. Includes recipes, masks and parts to make the gingerbread baby’s house and an interactive gingerbread house.

http://janbrett.com/activities_pages_projects.htm

The Gingerbread Man Provides recipes, activities, songs, a Spanish text for the story, links to other sites and more.

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fields/7444/gingerbread_man.htm

KinderCorner: G is for Gingerbread While the website is not laid out well (you must scroll through the pages to see the activities), it still provides many good ideas for using the story in he classroom.

http://www.kinderkorner.com/gingerbread.html

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Annie’s Gingerbread Page Lots of graphics, as well as great gingerbread facts and links to other gingerbread sites. Not useful for students because it focuses more on the holiday aspect of gingerbread but provides teachers with clipart and background that could be helpful.

http://www.annieshomepage.com/gingerbread.html

Bibliography Fallgatter, Tarla. The History of Gingerbread. WWWiz Magazine, ©1995. Retrieved on April 20, 2002 from the World Wide Web at < http://wwwiz.com/issue04/wiz_d04.html >. MacDonald, Margaret Read. The Storyteller’s Sourcebook: a subject, title, and motif index to folklore collections for children. Detroit, Mich.: Neal-Schumann Publishers in association with Gale Research. ©1982.

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