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shighley's review against another edition
4.0
While I loved the idea of this book, and I enjoy learning about new things, this had me confused. I thought maybe I had skipped a page when I went from Washington sending out Ludwick to the war coming to an end. As others have said, thank goodness for the author's note. I know that I appreciate a book when it spurs me on to further research, which this one did. In particular, I enjoyed reading about the Ludwick Foundation, which continues to do wonderful things 200 years after the bakers legacy. You can read about the recent grants here: http://www.ludwickfoundation.org/grantees.htm I've even been to Philadelphia a couple of times in the last few years, and had still never heard of him. I checked this out thinking that my 8th grade history teachers might like to share it with their classes, but I don't think there was enough substance to it; yes, the aura is there, but not the facts.
mlottermoser's review against another edition
4.0
A tale of an ordinary man who did extraordinary things to support his country. He sacrificed time, money, and his health to help feed the troops in America’s fight for freedom. Make sure you read the historical notes at the end.
heisereads's review against another edition
4.0
A little-known hero of the Revolution gets his due in this story, written in an easy to read format, with illustrations in the style of the gingerbread that he baked. A fun picture book to read.
abigailbat's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, so this is an interesting story about an unknown player in the Revolutionary War and the illustrations are whimsical, colorful, and fitting to the story. My issue is that I found the author's note to be more interesting and clear than the actual text of the picture book. Maybe it's because the text never mentions Christopher Ludwick's name, but just calls him "the baker", which makes the story seem like a fairy tale instead of a factual account. The text of the picture book is just so basic that I didn't really understand that Ludwick was spending his own life savings purchasing flour and baking bread for the Continental Army or that at the end he baked six thousand pounds of bread to feed surrendered British soldiers at the end of the war.
This could be useful in units about the Revolutionary War or the founding fathers, but DO NOT skip the author's note!
This could be useful in units about the Revolutionary War or the founding fathers, but DO NOT skip the author's note!
jshettel's review against another edition
5.0
I adored this book about an unsung hero of the American Revolution. The watercolor illustrations made to look like gingerbread cookies were absolutely stunning. The illustrator used a masking fluid to create the pipes effect.
cmw119's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this one up to read four 4th of July story time simply because we do not have a lot of 4th of July books at our library. I justified it by saying, "well, because of the American Revolution we celebrate the 4th of July, so it works." The book itself, the cover, the illustrations were not appealing to me (though a very clever idea to make all the illustrations look like gingerbread people and things). I was expecting this to be boring and as ancient as the book looked, but I had to use what was available.
I'm a history nerd, so in the end I actually really liked this, though I did find the historical note at the end actually more interesting than the rest of the book. But I was pleasantly surprised by this and really happy I chose to read it for story time.
I'm a history nerd, so in the end I actually really liked this, though I did find the historical note at the end actually more interesting than the rest of the book. But I was pleasantly surprised by this and really happy I chose to read it for story time.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
What a fun and clever book! The little-known story of Christopher Ludwick, a German immigrant to America in the 18th century who bakes for a living, and how he joined the Revolutionary cause and became the chief baker for the Continental Army; he talks to the hessian mercenaries to try to convince them to switch sides, and even ended up baking bread to feed the defeated British soldiers. I love this book, not only for the cool German-American connection (my dad is a Hessian too! :-) but for the colorful, cheery, stylized illustrations that make the characters look just like gingerbread. I liked the short, succinct, simple text with repetition ("Not in my America!"), and the amusing comments of the general's underlings and the King's underlings--they all have something to say to echo or to question their leaders. It also has three very big German words in it (for Revolution, Independence, and Liberty), which I've certainly never seen done before in an American picturebook. Kudos! The afterword gives nice details of Christopher's life, and lists the author's sources.
caryleliza's review against another edition
4.0
Great story to tell of a real-life baker and his delicious role in the American Revolution. We loved the gingerbread cookie-inspired illustrations.