St. Patrick's Day Tricks! The Gingerbread Man & the Leprechaun Loose at School by Laura Murray

One Monday in March the mischief began with a HEE HEE HEE from a wee little man.

"FO FIDDLEY-FEE! You can't catch me!

I'm a leprechaun on a mess-making spree!"

But that leprechaun is messing with the wrong man--Gingerbread Man--who knows a thing or two about being loose on the school himself!

Gingerbread Man sprints down the Kindergarten hall after the leprechaun, spotting a note hastily taped to the wall by the green-clad malefactor.

The Woodwinds, the Strings, Percussion, and Brass
Are Turned Topsy-Turvy, Awaiting Your Class

And it's true! When his class follows the Gingerbread Man to their band room, they find it is indeed a musical mess. The kids quickly put the tipped tubas and flipped flutes back in place, but their Gingerbread Man is already moving on to find the green-clad miscreant.

As Gingerbread Man strolls through the halls on patrol, he follows some telltale dropped shamrocks leading into the Boys' Bathroom. What a distressing sight it is.

He yelled with a blush:

"Where are your manners! Remember to flush!"

Is any place safe--including the Gingerbread Man's own gingerbread house--with a tricky leprechaun on the loose? Well, Gingerbread Man hasn't lost a race yet, in Laura Murray's latest, The Gingerbread Man and the Leprechaun Loose at School(G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2018),  and in this latest salute to St. Patrick's Day celebrations at school, the pot of gold is in Murray's jolly rhymes and artist Mike Lowery's kid-friendly illustrations. Chasing down the wee man's pot of gold is a time-honored early childhood class activity to familiarize young pupils with the school, and this story makes a great storytime lead-in for the hunt around the school. And for a rip-roaring emcore, there's Adam Wallace's best-selling How to Catch a Leprechaun and Lucille Colandro's classic St. Paddy's Day parody, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover! (peruse review here).

Including in this series are other primary grade classroom-centered gingerbread adventures such as The Gingerbread Man Loose at The Zoo, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck and The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas.