als to young children during their cognitive stages of development. This is a story that appeals to the audience during their preoperational stage of development. During this stage children have a fondness for talking animals and animation and The Gingerbread Boy has this. The Gingerbread Boy can appeal to a child that lives in the city, because the story takes place in an urban setting. This picture book is a modern retelling with an urban twist, which allows for increased cultural diversity. During this version of the story the gingerbread boy is created in an apartment and running loose through New York City (Egielski 1). In this urban version everyone wants the gingerbread boy for a snack. He slides down the fire escape and is chased through the streets of New York by a man, a woman, a hungry alley rat, construction workers, street musicians, and a mounted police. Children living in the big cities can relate to this version because it depicts the gingerbread boy sliding down a fire escape, going across a clothesline strung between two high-rise apartment buildings, down into the subway and through Central Park to the zoo. Like the traditional ending it is not a happy one. The sly fox tricks the gingerbread boy for a ride across the lake which ends with the gingerbread boy being eaten. The picture of the fox eating the gingerbread boy may seem too graphic for a child under the age of three, but most children seem to love Egielski's The Gingerbread Boy (Egielski 27-28).
             The second version, Brett's Gingerbread Baby, takes place in a Swiss village. The beautiful countryside with a winter scene makes it a great day to bake some gingerbread. This story also appeals to the preoperational stage of development. Preschool age children can relate to this version because
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