Santa And The Gingerbread Man

Copyright Text Š 2019 Henley Santa Illustrations Š 2019 Mudassir M Abid All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book has been typeset in Palatino and Sassoon Primary First Printing, 2019 Pightle Press 39 Clifton Road Reading, RG4 7PD

Introduction One of the best ways you can help your children learn and learn to read is to share books with them. Here’s why: • They get to know the sounds, rhythms and words used in the way we write. This is different from how we talk, so hearing stories helps children learn how to read.

• They think about the feelings of the characters in the book. This helps them as they go about their own lives with other people.

• They think about the ideas in the book. This helps them to understand the world.

• Sharing books and listening to what your children say about them shows your children that you care about what they think and who they are.

Michael Rosen

Writer and Poet Children’s Laureate (2007–9) Thank you, Michael, for letting me share your introduction with my readers.

It was Boxing Day and the children were coming for tea.

Granny baked some gingerbread men.

As she took them from the oven, one jumped onto the floor and ran out of the kitchen.

Granny shouted, “Stop, stop!� and chased him.

The little gingerbread man called, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”

Granny couldn’t catch him.

The gingerbread man ran past a cow. The cow shouted, “Stop, stop!” and chased him.

The gingerbread man called, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”

The cow couldn’t catch him.

The gingerbread man ran past a dog. The dog shouted, “Stop, stop!” and chased him.

The gingerbread man called, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man”.

The dog couldn’t catch him.

The gingerbread man ran past a horse. The horse shouted, “Stop, stop!” and chased him.

The gingerbread man called, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man”.

The horse couldn’t catch him.

The gingerbread man ran past a fox. The fox shouted, “Stop, stop!” and chased him.

The gingerbread man called, “Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”

The fox couldn’t catch him.

The gingerbread man reached the riverbank and had to stop.

The fox said, “Nowhere left to run? That’s rather unfortunate.”

The fox licked his lips. The gingerbread man was very worried. He was right to be worried, wasn’t he?

Just then, Santa Claus landed in his sleigh.

“We’re on our way home. Jump up, little gingerbread man and come with us. I can’t let anyone eat you.”

Santa took the gingerbread man home to the North Pole.

The elves loved the gingerbread man and they made gingerbread man badges.

From that time on, Granny baked no more gingerbread men.

She made gingerbread Christmas trees instead. After all, they never run away!

The End

Let’s make gingerbread Christmas trees This is a good way to get young children interested in baking. They can learn important things like measuring skills and patience (literally chilling) and they can feel satisfaction as they eat the biscuits that they made.

May I suggest that you and your children copy Granny and make gingerbread Christmas trees rather than gingerbread men. As she says, trees don’t run away!

Here is Granny’s favourite recipe for making gingerbread.

Safety first! Closely supervise children (and grown-ups) helping you in the kitchen.

• • • • • • • • • •

Ingredients: 3 cups of plain flour 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda 2 teaspoons of ground ginger 1 teaspoon of cinnamon ½ teaspoon of nutmeg 1 cup of butter ½ cup of soft light brown sugar ½ cup of golden syrup or honey 1 egg Sprinkles, chocolate curls, sugar balls or icing tubes to decorate.

How to make your gingerbread trees: • Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter • Add the sugar and syrup or honey and stir in the egg to make a firm dough • Chill the dough for as long as the children will let you (30 to 60 minutes) • Heat the oven to 190°c /gas mark 5 • Grease a large baking tray (or line with baking paper) • Roll out your dough quite thin (about 6 mm or ¼ inch) and cut out your trees with a cookie cutter • Place them on the tray, well-spaced to let them spread while cooking • Bake until golden brown (12 to 15 minutes) • Cool the trees on a wire rack • Decorate with sprinkles. Go over the top!

Enjoy eating your delicious gingerbread trees!

This recipe will make enough to let you share your trees with friends and family.

Santa loves gingerbread cookies. Why not put out a gingerbread tree for him with a glass of milk on Christmas Eve?

Party Activities You could do some of these while the dough chills and during the bake.

Perhaps choose just a few to do otherwise the children may get over excited and the adults will be exhausted!

• Children draw and paint scenes from the story • Children retell the story with new animals, perhaps a dinosaur or a tiger • Together, make cardboard and paper puppets and act out the story. Or, you could use soft toys instead • Hang the gingerbread trees on the real Christmas tree – remember to make a hanging hole before you bake them!

• One child can “be” the gingerbread man and hide for the others to seek • A grown-up can hide as many badges as there are children to seek them (or maybe an extra couple?)

• Each child starts other activities after finding a badge • Children can colour in pictures from the story • Children can draw and make their own badges or decorations using cardboard, sticky tape and safety pins or air-drying clay • Older children can work with a grown-up to film the above activities • If Mother Christmas is at the party, she will supervise and support these activities • If Santa is there, he will tell the story of Santa And The Gingerbread Man • Santa will give the children gingerbread man badges

For Eden, Ezra and Eliza and the thousands of children who have visited me over the last thirty-odd years.

www.henleysanta.com

“Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”

Can Santa Claus help The Gingerbread Man stay safe from everyone who wants to eat him? It might need a miracle, but miracles can happen.

This book is ideal to read aloud with young children and includes party activities to entertain and help develop them at Christmas or any time of year.