Catch That Cookie!

by Hallie Durand, David Small (Illustrator)

Overview

Solve the riddles to find the runaway gingerbread men in this funny and magical cookie hunt!

Marshall knows one thing for sure, despite what all the stories say: Gingerbread men cannot run. Cookies are for eating, and he can't wait to eat his after spending all morning baking them with his class. But when it's time to take the gingerbread men out of the oven . . . they're gone! Now, to find those rogue cookies, Marshall and his class have to solve a series of rhyming clues. And Marshall just might have to rethink his stance on magic. Catch That Cookie! is an imaginative mystery, deliciously illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner David Small. It's sure to inspire a new classroom tradition . . . and maybe even a few new believers!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525428350
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/14/2014
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	979,410
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Hallie Durand has written many popular books for kids. She lives with her husband and three kids, including the real Marshall, in Maplewood, New Jersey.
 
David Small is the renowned illustrator of more than fifty books, including One Cool Friend and So You Want to be President? He has won a Caldecott medal, two Caldecott honors, the Christopher Medal, and was also a National Book Award Finalist. He lives with his wife, author Sarah Stewart, in Mendon, Michigan.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Durand has written a delightfully ingenious story with an altogether appealing protagonist in Marshall. The icing on the cake—er, gingerbread—is Small’s wonderful pictures, created in pen-and-ink and watercolor, fill single- and double-page spreads. A wonderful draughtsman, Small uses a fluid line that adds energy to an already lively story and further invests it with wit and whimsy. All of these ingredients combine to make a truly tasty tale." —Booklist, starred review

"Add this to your small shelf of truly special seasonal explorations of belief, but don’t wait for a holiday to share it!" —School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

In Small's spirited illustrations, the children, their teacher and the "G-men" all burst with spice and verve.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

05/26/2014
Marshall, the skeptic of his elementary school classroom, isn’t buying any malarkey about gingerbread men. “They can’t run for real,” he announces. “No way.” But when his teacher, Mrs. Gray, goes to retrieve the cookies the class has made, the oven is empty. The gingerbread people have escaped, apparently, and they’ve left clues in verse: “We ran from the oven, we were bored and hot,/ Now we’re hiding in a big, black ___.” The class quickly enters the spirit of the hunt, but it’s Marshall the doubter whose detective work leads the class to the “G-men.” Durand (Mitchell Goes Bowling), a pseudonym for agent Holly McGhee, understands elementary-school culture and cuisine: “Marshall put some good stuff on his gingerbread man—a silver-ball belt and six eyes (he really liked raisins.)” With characteristic energy, Small (One Cool Friend) uses bold lines, liberal swaths of wash, and wry humor to draw Marshall’s school and his stylish teacher: “Kudos, Marsh,” she says, after Marshall struggles with the big bowl and spoon. “You rocked that dough.” Ages 3–5. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Catch That Cookie:

* "Durand has written a delightfully ingenious story with an altogether appealing protagonist in Marshall. The icing on the cake—er, gingerbread—is Small’s wonderful pictures, created in pen-and-ink and watercolor, fill single- and double-page spreads. A wonderful draughtsman, Small uses a fluid line that adds energy to an already lively story and further invests it with wit and whimsy. All of these ingredients combine to make a truly tasty tale." —Booklist, starred review

"Add this to your small shelf of truly special seasonal explorations of belief, but don’t wait for a holiday to share it!" —School Library Journal

"A must-have title for any library." —LMC

Praise for David Small:

Imogene's Antlers: Featured Selection for more than 10 years on PBS's Reading Rainbow, California Young Readers Medal

The Gardener: Caldecott Honor, Christopher Award, ABBY Award Honor Book, 1997, Friends of American Writers (Chicago), First Place Juvenile Literary Award, 1997

So You Want to be President?: Caldecott Medal Award, Chosen as one of the Best Books of the Year 2000 by the School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist and the Riverbank Review, Texas Bluebonnet

When Dinosaurs Came With Everything: No. 1 on Time magazine's list: Top 10 Children's Books of 2007, American Booksellers for Children E.B. White Read Aloud Award, April 2008, ALA Notable Book for 2007

One Cool Friend: Caldecott Honor, New York Times Bestseller, Indie Next Pick

From the Publisher

2014-06-29
Some peripatetic gingerbread men make a believer of a skeptical grade schooler.Mrs. Gray's class has been listening to variations on "The Gingerbread Man" all week in preparation for a cooking activity. Marshall knows it's all hooey—cookies can't run. The kids mix, cut and decorate before Mrs. Gray "locks" the gingerbread men in the oven…but when the oven is opened, the cookies have vanished. A series of rhymed clues takes the kids around the school in pursuit. Though initially Marshall suspects that Mrs. Gray has cooked up a literacy exercise to get between the kids and their cookies, a stray raisin makes him wonder—and then he notices hundreds of gingerbread footprints on the floor of the gym. Those "G-men" must be napping in the doll corner after all that running! Durand has created an attractive protagonist in Marshall; his skepticism is exactly age-appropriate, as is his pride in the way he "rocks" the dough. Small's loose, line-and-watercolor cartoons feature a freckled, redheaded Caucasian boy with expressive eyebrows. (Mrs. Gray is also white, but her classroom is multiethnic.) There's something a little half-baked about the story, though; although the buildup to the discovery of the cookies is effective, the denouement sags: Just what is going to happen to all these apparently sentient cookies? A closing vignette showing Marshall about to bite his cookie's head off is downright disquieting.Cute concept; uneven execution. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews