School Days: The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray

"I BEGAN IN A BOWL."

Lovingly but with lots of giggles, a class stirs up a batch of ginger cookie dough, rolls it out, and artistically decorates their gingerbread man. But just as he's being taken out of the oven, the bell rings for recess. The kids bustle outside, leaving the cooling gingerbread man hot to trot.

"I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN AND I'M TRYING TO FIND

 THE CHILDREN WHO MADE ME AND LEFT ME BEHIND."

But  a couple of minutes behind, the poor cookie man has to hustle. He gets flattened by a loose soccer ball from the gym,
Coach retrieves it from the hall:

"GOOD GRIEF! IT'S A COOKIE!

OH, NO! HERE'S A TOE!"

Coach escorts the Gingerbread Man to the school nurse's office, where a bit of goofy glue repairs his foot--sort of.

"I LIMP AND I'LL LIMP AS FAST AS I CAN...."

Now more than a couple of more minutes behind his class, the Gingerbread Man gamely continues, taking a short cut by sliding down a banister. Airborne, he lands in the art teacher's lunch sack on top of a sandwich. Good humoredly, she takes her drop-in friend to the office.

Just as Principle Peacock is considering what administrative action to take, a group of kids come by, putting up signs with his picture and with a welcome message:

MISSING!

ROOM 23

PLEASE RETURN!

HE'S OUR GINGERBREAD MAN.

It's time for one tough cookie to return to his classroom and his class, where his kids get busy building him a gingerbread house, in Laura Murray's latest, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2013). If you started school anytime in the past forty or fifty years, you probably have fond memories of your hunt for the runaway Gingerbread Man, a clever scheme of Kindergarten teachers to take kids on a tutorial tour of the layout and personnel of the elementary school, and this tall tale is a good way to introduce a preschool or Kindergarten class to this important rite of passage.

Other sweet schooltime treats include Murray's community helpers account, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck and Joan Holub's The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School (Penguin Young Readers, L2).

CAUTION: GINGERBREAD MAN X-ING!! The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray

ONE WHITE SNOWY MORNING, I POPPED FROM MY BED.
"WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!" I SAID.

THE CLASSROOM WAS DECORATED IN COLORED LIGHTS,
TWINKLING IN REDS, GREENS, AND WHITES.

The fall semester is swinging into winter. The class has completed their study of Community Helpers, and Teacher has an idea that will morph that unit right into the holiday season.

"IT'S THE SEASON FOR GIVING
AND WE CAN GIVE, TOO.

OUR GIFTS SHOULD BE SOMETHING
WE MAKE, SAY, OR DO!"

The teacher has the kids busy making seasons greeting cards or treats for those community helpers--the police lady, the librarian, the garbage collector, and the rest--who they have visited with or who have visited them in their classroom, and then they'll take a walking field trip downtown to see the town decorations and deliver their cards in person. What festive fun!

The Gingerbread Man makes his own special card for the baker who baked him, but he gets separated from the group as they hike toward town. But after all, he's the Gingerbread Man, and gingerbread men are especially good at running--running away, in his case. A slushy snow is falling, and he knows the damp is a danger to crispy cookies, but still, he IS a mighty Gingerbread Man.

“I’LL HOBBLE RIGHT OVER, AS FAST AS I CAN.

Gingerbread Man is one tough cookie, but as he trudges through the wet snow, he notices that his feet are getting seriously soggy. But at last he spies the sign he's seeking: BAKE SHOP.

And when he slogs inside the shop, the baker notices his problem immediately and has a quick fix for crumbling feet. It so happens the baker has a pot of melted chocolate all ready to decorate some goodies, so like the helper he is, he dunks the Gingerbread Man's tootsies in a quick dark chocolate dip for his trip, giving him galoshes that definitely won't melt on the way back to school.

"THAT'LL KEEP YOUR FEET COZY AND LOOK REALLY COOL!"

Laura Murray's third story of the Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2015) has the class mascot getting into his usual runaway scene, all set in jolly rhyming couplets with speech balloons to boot, while artist Mike Lowery sets off the story in comic book-style panels, all bright with the symbols of the season-- tinsel-wrapped trees, candy cane stripes, and Santa Claus caps--and concluding with a special card for their teacher:

"NOW THAT WE KNOW THAT WE'RE SMART COOKIES, TOO,
WE MADE YOU A SUPER GIGANTIC "THANK YOU!"

"...The smart cookies who appreciated the character's previous adventures will eat this one up," says School Library Journal.

Other stories is this series are the classic first-day-of-school story, The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (see my 201l review here) and the field trip tale, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck.

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.

Cookie With A Clue! The Gingerbread Man Loose at the Zoo by Laura Murray

I’ll be a detective. I know that I can!
I’ll solve all these clues. I’m the Gingerbread Man!

That cocky cookie is back again, this time on field trip with "his" class to the city zoo!

Teacher has prepped the kids with plenty of wild animal lore and has a fun scavenger hunt for the class to sleuth out each creature with the help of her clues.

It's a zippity zoo day!

But Gingerbread Man is born to run! He zips off on his own to try his hand at solving all the riddles. Unfortunately, he soon learns that being a tasty cookie amid wild animals means he has to be a smart cookie. Giraffe sees Gingerbread Man as nothing more than a sweet treat.

I jumped on the rail to get a good look.

And out popped her tongue like a curvy blue hook!

That was a close one! Gingerbread Man wriggles and twists out of a tight situation by tickling Giraffe's tender nose into an abrupt sneeze that sends Gingerbread Man sailing to safety.

But does Gingerbread Man stay with the group? Of course not. Running wild is his style. But by now he's a wiser wanderer, staying out of reach of the zebra, rhino, elephant, and even the naked mole rat. He even manages to resist a sweet-talking fox this time around, too, until he's down to his last critter riddle, when he meets up with a little lost Joey Roo, looking for his mother's warm pouch.

I'll help you get back.

I'm kind of lost, too!

But I'm on the right track.

And with just the right clue, Gingerbread Man comes through, in Laura Murray's latest in series, The Gingerbread Man Loose at The Zoo (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2016). With Murray's rollicking rhythms and cantering couplets, kids get a well-versed educational tour of the zoo and its denizens with their favorite jolly gingerbread man. Mike Lowery's faux naif illustrations move the story along speedily with each page turn, and all ends well, with everyone luckily accounted for in time to load on the big yellow bus. "Zingy rhymes and cartooning make this a high-stakes, high-energy readaloud," reports Publishers Weekly.

Murray's Gingerbread Man series is perfect for preschool and primary school students, each one focused on learning about some aspect of community life. Other books in this series include The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School, The Gingerbread Man Loose on the Fire Truck, and, of course, The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas. (See reviews here.)

Back to School? What the Dinosaurs Did At School by Refe and Susan Tuma

HAVE YOU EVER COME HOME FROM SCHOOL TO FIND YOUR DINOSAURS SOMEWHERE ELSE THAN WHERE YOU LEFT THEM?

Those pesky nocturnal plastic prehistoric reptiles are at it again.

This time they have sneaked out of their cabinet at night and clambered into your backpack, waiting by the door, all ready for the school day to come.

Smuggling toys into school is not allowed. But these stowaway dinos are truly stealthy. A few minutes alone in the cubbies, and they are free to roam. They hide until school is out, and everyone has gone. Then...

DINOSAURS ARE LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL!

They hit the supplies cabinet first, and have their very own arts and crafts festival, using up most of the paints and leaving the brushes matted and drying stiff. They snack on paper and knock all the books off their shelves. The library shelves are next to get the same treatment.

Moving along, they head for the gym, where they get the balls rolling--soccer balls, kickballs, basketballs, softballs, all over the floor.

NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, WE HAVE TO KEEP THOSE DINOSAURS OUT OF THE....

Uh-oh, they've already found the janitor's closet. Mops, buckets, cleaning sprays, and oh, no, something white and foamy is floating everything out onto the floor of the hall.

They hit the science lab and find all the wrong stuff!

OH, NO! DINOSAURS, DON'T MIX THOSE CHEMICALS!

But then--catastrophe strikes the cafeteria. The dinosaurs have discovered bowls of spaghetti and pots of marinara sauce! It's a dinosaur dinner disaster!

If the teachers find this mess, your dinosaurs will be doomed to the dreaded--

DRAWER OF NO RETURN!

Yes, if the teachers catch them in the act, your dinos are doomed to that desk drawer where forbidden toys go in but never come out, in Refe and Susan Tuma's second book, What the Dinosaurs Did at School (Little, Brown and Company, 2017), the sequel to their popular hit, What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night. The Tumas, famous for their humorous tableaux composed of a full set of toy dinosaurs, put them to good use in this funny story of prehistoric monsters running amok in an elementary school. With the comic photos of their colorful toy dinos shown making merry mischief in an elementary school, new students, especially new Kindergartners, will giggle at the dinosaurs' doings while actually getting a vicarious tour of the school along the way. Going on a schoolwide hunt for dinosaurs may become a new first-day-of-school tour tradition. As Publishers Weekly opines, "The compositions are excellent, the props adorable... and the hyperbolic narration sustains a fever pitch."

Share this one with the similarly themed The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School (see reviews here).