THE GINGERBREAD BOY

Egielski (Buz, 1995, etc.) applies his paintbrush to a familiar tale—and transplants it to an urban setting—about the gingerbread boy who is too enticingly delicious to avoid pursuit, and too naive and inexperienced to recognize a foxy deception. The gingerbread boy, baked to life by the childless wife of a childless man, believes that he is such hot stuff that he immediately calls himself Gingerbread Man and dashes first to escape family life and then to elude those who would devour him. A rat, some construction workers, street musicians, and a mounted police officer join the growing crowd of pursuers. Enter the fox, who promises to bear the boy to freedom across the lake. Readers know the rest, but this bright, winning update, with its vast city backgrounds and a gingerbread boy recipe (that, unlike the story, allows the cookie to come out of the oven before it is subjected to icing) enclosed, makes the chase seem new. (Picture book. 3-7)