Ginger Bear

Any child who loves cookies will enjoy this inventive tale of Ginger Bear, a cookie in the shape of a bear, who sets out to avoid being eaten. As she did with Traction Man Is Here! and The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, Mini Grey has created a totally original book that is fun to read and fun to look at.

"'As she showed in her soulful The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, Grey has a knack for reimagining nursery rhymes and other children's classics. This story of an independent-minded cookie alludes to 'The Gingerbread Man,' noting that 'the life of a cookie is usually short and sweet.' But fate smiles on Ginger Bear: he escapes being eaten by his baker, Horace, whose Mum interrupts every time he gets ready to take a bite. At bedtime, having missed his chance for a snack, 'Horace put the bear in a little tin and put it on his pillow' for later. As sleepy clock faces strike midnight, Ginger Bear comes to life and bakes a crispy batch of bears for company, decorating them in carnival icing and dots. Poised atop a tower of cookbooks, Ginger Bear becomes the ringmaster of a culinary circus. But the festivities end abruptly with the arrival of the family dog who 'liked cookies. (But not in a way that is necessarily good for the cookies.)' Grey doesn't sugarcoat her watercolor and mixed-media illustrations: she plays the cookie carnage for laughs, with sole survivor Ginger Bear overlooking a crumb-covered linoleum floor. The mock-pathos implies that cookies are meant to be eaten. No fox can catch this gingerbread man, though, whose recipe for a doughy rumpus calls for a bit of In the Night Kitchen and a dash of Where the Wild Things Are. Young readers should be pleased to discover how Grey allows her edible hero to spend the rest of his days. Ages 5-8. (June)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Mini Grey is "one of the brightest new stars on the picture book scene" according to the Financial Times. Traction Man Is Here! won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, is the New York Times Best Illustrated, and an ALA Notable, and has five starred reviews. Her most recent book, The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon received three starred reviews. She lives in Oxford, England.