The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers

When Gingerbread Girl, who matched wits with a fox in The Gingerbread Girl, opens a box of animal crackers, the animals take off running, and each cracker recites a variation on a snappy, self-referential refrain: “I’ll whoop and I’ll shout,/ Make a hullabaloo./ You can’t catch me,/ I’m the cracker kangaroo!” Along the way, a cat and mouse, a herd of sheep, and a scout troop (among others) join Gingerbread Girl as she gives chase, trying to keep the crackers safe from that wily fox. Ernst’s pastel palette is well-suited to this lively story of “Animal Crackers gone wild,” which, with words like “menagerie” and “brouhaha,” scattered throughout, offers a bit of a vocabulary lesson, too. Ages 3–5. (Oct.)