On Can’t Catch Me, I’m the Gingerbread Man by Jamie Gilson
By Shane Timson
For High Plains Public Radio Readers Book Club, I'm Shane Timpson in Colby, Kansas.
Today I'm talking about the book Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man by Jamie Gilson, published in 1981.
The story follows Mitch McDandall, who is a sixth-grade hockey player and he's a star player on his team, but he's also a cook. And his family owns Sunshine Grocery
Store, which is a health food store, which back in the 1980s, health food stores weren't as successful as they are now.
Mitch gets to be in a national competition with his famous gingerbread that he makes. If he wins, they could win $30,000, which Mitch would like to branch out and have more Sunshine Grocery Stores. But right before the competition, the store burns down, and some people think that the McDandall’s did it on purpose.
Also, in this story Mitch when he flies to Florida to be in this cooking competition,
he meets a girl. That's right. Now, we don't know if they're interested in each other,
but they get along even though they're opposite ends of the spectrum. For example, Willie Ruth -- that's the name of the girl that he meets --doesn't want to win the competition. She didn't even want to be in the competition. She's there more because her mother wanted her to be there. Mitch wants to be there because he wants to win money more than ever because of his family losing their grocery store.
It's definitely a very coming-of-age book.
When I got this book all those years ago, I read it so much in the library that I'm surprised the school didn't give it to me when I graduated. And I'd forgotten about this book, but I thought about it a lot, but I just couldn't get my hands on it.
When I finally got my hands on it, I wanted to share it with you, the High Plains Public Radio Readers Club. But I also wanted to find out, do I love this book as much then? Do I love it today like I did back then?
The answer is yes. In fact, I love this book more now than I did when I was a kid. Because when you read a book like this, it takes you back to a simpler time. Because when I was a kid reading that book, I didn't think about world affairs and everything that's going on like I do now.
You know, I have concerns that every adult has. But when you read a book like this and it takes you back to that part of your childhood, it's like for a moment you get to escape all that. And kind of relive parts of your childhood.
So that's why I think that even as an adult, it's important to go back and read some of those. I call this a classic book. It's not considered a classic. But in my life,
it is a classic. Because it takes me back to being a fifth-grade student and realizing some of the simplicity of that. And it makes you remember how...
There was some fifth-grade drama in my life, you know, and you thought, oh, I'm never going to survive it. And then I did. So, I hope that you will pick up this book and read it.
I didn't want to give away any spoilers because I hope you'll read the book and enjoy it because it's well worth reading. And I'm going to read more of her books because there are some books of hers that I never read before. And I might do a book review on one of those books.
For High Plains Public Radio Readers Book Club, I'm Shane Timpson in Colby, Kansas.
