The Gingerbread Man a personalised book with your child as the hero
Run, run, as fast as you can, all the way home
On Christmas Eve our hero bakes a gingerbread man, who leaps from the oven and races off, boasting that nobody can catch him. Past the old woman and old man, the cow, the horse and the farmers, our hero gives chase all the way to the river, where a sly fox is waiting. Our hero arrives just in time, and the runaway learns that home is the best place to be.
Colour palette: warm gingerbread brown, holly berry red and snowy cream
Sample pages
Sample illustrations of this tale. Your book is drawn with your own child as the hero, in this story's colours.
The Gingerbread Man: the full story
Once upon a time, on a snowy Christmas Eve, in a little cottage at the edge of a village, a girl called Molly decided to bake something special. She tied on her apron, rolled out a big piece of spicy gingerbread dough on the floured table, and carefully cut out the shape of a little man. She gave him two currants for eyes, a cherry-peel smile and three white icing buttons down his front. Then she popped him into the warm oven.
"There," said Molly, closing the oven door. "You will be the best gingerbread man in the world."
Soon the whole cottage smelled of ginger and cinnamon. When she thought he must be ready, Molly opened the oven door, and out jumped the Gingerbread Man! He landed on the floor, gave a little hop, and ran straight for the door.
"Stop!" cried Molly. "Come back!"
But the Gingerbread Man only laughed. He ran out of the door and down the snowy lane, singing:
"Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
Molly ran after him. In the lane, an old woman and an old man were coming home with their Christmas shopping. "Oh my, a gingerbread man!" said the old woman. "Stop, little fellow!" said the old man, waving his walking stick. And they hurried after him too.
But the Gingerbread Man ran faster and faster, singing:
"Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
He ran past a frosty meadow, where a big brown cow was munching hay. "Moo!" said the cow. "Stop, Gingerbread Man! You smell delicious!" And the cow lumbered after him, while Molly climbed over the fence to keep up.
But the Gingerbread Man only laughed. "I've run away from a girl, an old woman and an old man," he called, "and I can run away from you too, I can!
Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
He ran past a snowy paddock, where a horse was tossing its mane. "Neigh!" said the horse. "Stop, Gingerbread Man!" And the horse galloped after him. But the Gingerbread Man was still too quick.
"I've run away from a girl, an old woman, an old man and a cow," he shouted, "and I can run away from you too, I can!"
He ran past a field where some farmers were mending a hedge. They dropped their tools and joined the chase. "Stop, Gingerbread Man!" they called. But the Gingerbread Man just laughed and sang his song even louder:
"Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
On and on he ran, until he came to a wide river. And there he had to stop, because gingerbread men cannot swim. If he got wet, he would go soft and crumbly and fall to pieces.
Sitting at the edge of the water was a fox with a bushy red tail and a very sly smile.
"Good afternoon, Gingerbread Man," said the fox smoothly. "You seem to be in a hurry. Would you like me to carry you across the river?"
The Gingerbread Man looked back. Molly, the old woman, the old man, the cow, the horse and the farmers were all coming up the road. "Yes, please!" he said.
"Jump onto my tail," said the fox. So the Gingerbread Man jumped onto the fox's tail, and the fox began to swim.
After a little while, the fox said, "The water is getting deeper. You had better climb up onto my back." So the Gingerbread Man climbed up onto his back.
"It's deeper still," said the fox. "Climb up onto my head." So the Gingerbread Man climbed onto the fox's head.
"Deeper still!" said the fox. "Quick, jump up onto my nose!" And the Gingerbread Man jumped onto the very tip of the fox's nose.
Now the fox began to lick his lips. But just at that moment, Molly came racing down the snowy bank.
"Fox!" she called out. "Don't you dare! That's my Gingerbread Man, and it's Christmas!"
The fox was so surprised that he lowered his nose, and the Gingerbread Man saw his chance. He hopped onto a big flat stepping stone in the middle of the river and then, stone by stone, all the way back to the bank where Molly stood. The fox looked at Molly, and at the crowd coming up behind her, and he decided that he wasn't hungry after all. He slunk away into the reeds and was not seen again.
The Gingerbread Man stood in the snow, a little out of breath, with his icing buttons trembling. "You came to help me," he said, "even after I ran away from you."
"Of course I did," said Molly.
The Gingerbread Man looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was boastful and silly. I thought running away was the cleverest thing in the world. But it nearly got me eaten."
"Then come home," said Molly. "It's warm there, and it's Christmas."
So the two of them walked home together side by side along the snowy path, with the old woman, the old man, the cow, the horse and the farmers waving goodbye, and the windows of the cottage glowing far ahead.
That Christmas Eve, the Gingerbread Man sat on a soft red cushion by the Christmas tree, next to Molly, watching the lights twinkle. He never ran away again. And whenever anybody asked him to sing his old song, he sang it a new way:
"Walk, walk, as slow as you can, I'm home for Christmas, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"
Parts for your family
Add these people to the book and they play these parts, with their own faces. Anyone else you add joins the story as themselves, beside the hero.
- The Old Woman — suits: Grandmother, Aunt, Mother, Someone else
- The Old Man — suits: Grandfather, Uncle, Father, Someone else