Gertrude and Toby Save the Gingerbread Man by Shari Tharp art by Jim Heath
Goodreads rating: 5 stars
I received this book through Goodreads Giveaway. This is my honest review.
Gertrude and Toby Save the Gingerbread Man is a cute, short story, about Gertrude (goat) and Toby (turtle), two farm animals who like to go on adventures. This particular adventure starts off with the Farmer taking the prized pig to the fair. Gertrude and Toby decide to go off to town for an adventure. Along the way, they see a magic carpet flying in the woods. Shortly after, a young boy and girl running out of the woods away from a witch. The magic carpet flies underneath the children and brings them to safety by Gertrude and Toby. These two children are Hansel and Gretel. They tag along with Gertrude and Toby into town. Once there, they hear a scream and see a Gingerbread Man being carried by a beanstalk into the sky. The magic carpet took Gertrude and Toby up into the clouds to a cabin of a giant. Gertrude was able to rescue the Gingerbread Man and they escaped back to the town. The baker told Hansel and Gretel they could live with him, and Gertrude and Toby happily went back to their farm.
This was a cute story. This book is great for young children and is able to keep their interest. There are many pictures with a paragraph or few sentences on most pages. It is a great stepping stone book, or to be read to young children at bedtime. This is the second book, but you do not have to read the first book to follow along. Each book appears to be it’s own new adventure and is written in a way to keep kids interested.
I really liked the mixture of identifiable fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel, Gingerbread Man, and Jack and the Beanstalk. I think that is an interesting concept to include them. This was probably my favorite part of the story. I liked how they all connected to each other.
The illustrations were great. Jim Heath is a great artist and each picture was interesting and helps visualize the story.
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