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What Really Happened to the Gingerbread Boy?

This "Cajun Gingerbread Boy" project was one of the first collaborative online projects my class joined (2000).  It began in the rural community of Meaux, Louisiana.  A copy of The Cajun Gingerbread Boy, an audio tape of the story being read, and an activities kit visited classrooms in Virginia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Kentucky, South Carolina, Maine, Florida, Georgia, and West Virginia before reaching Spring Lake, New Jersey. 
   The timing was perfect for our class to participate in this project because we had just finished The Gingerbread Man in our class reading book. We also had read another version of this beloved story, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka. Comparing different versions of the same story is a great way to develop reading comprehension.  So. . .  the arrival of The Cajun Gingerbread Boy gave us the opportunity to continue this study!
   

In this book by Berthe Amos, the little Cajun gingerbread boy runs away from Mawmaw, a shrimper in his pirogue, a zydeco fiddler, and a cane farmer. The book tells us that an alligator, named M'sieur Cocodrie tricks the little cookie boy just as the fox did in the familiar version.  Our class enjoyed hearing the story read to them a few times. We learned several new words, such as: Bayou Lafourche, piquant, cher, merci, gumbo, bon appetit, jamais, mes amis, bonjour, mais oui, merci beaucoup, pirogue, and zydeco. We agreed that the French words have a nice sound!
     The project kit also had some music on tape. We danced to "On the Bayou" and had great fun!  Another interesting activity was to complete a Venn diagram contrasting the traditional book version and the Cajun version. (Someday soon we hope to scan a picture of this work). The interlocking circles provide a graphic organizer to show how the stories are similar and different.
     Although M'sieur Cocodrie and the fox supposedly eat the gingerbread cookie at the story's end, but ...
 

Does anyone know what really happened to the Gingerbread Boy?  We wrote our own endings to the story:


 Kelly: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy grew some hair. The crocodile ate his hair. The Gingerbread Boy was saved in the bayou by a snake.

 Chrissy: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy and the crocodile became friends. He fell in the bayou. Then a fish saved him.

 Chloe: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy met a girl. She was pretty. They went to a park and had fun.

 Julianne: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy and M'sieur Cocodrie became friends.  They took a ride down the river. They found some land and played together.

  John: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy threw apples at M'sieur Cocodrie. M'sieur Cocodrie was hurt but the Cajun Gingerbread Boy fell off in the water and crumbled into little pieces.

  Joe: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy jumped in a boat. The crocodile bumped into the boat and ate the gingerbread boy. A beaver came and the crocodile ate him too.

 Nick: The crocodile chased the Cajun Gingerbread Boy and they went to a beach.  The crocodile got eaten by a shark and the Gingerbread Boy went surfing.

 Tess: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy did get eaten. Inside M'sieur Cocodrie's mouth, he lit a match. There was a raft. He played on it.

 Maggie: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy ate the crocodile. He found a boat. He went on a vacation.

 Shea: The boy and the crocodile saw mawmaw. They ate gingerbread girls and lived happily ever after.

 Jake: A deer sneaked up behind the Cajun Gingerbread Boy and ate him all up. Then the deer got eaten by the crocodile.

 Randy: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy was smart enough to stay away from the crocodile. The crocodile was mad. The Cajun Gingerbread Boy ate him! It ended when the crocodile yelled, "Help!"

 Toby: The gingerbread got away from the crocodile. A snake had saved him and they went to the snake's friend's house. They invited over all the animals and then they had a disco Pokemon party.

 Brinley: M'sieur Cocodrie took the Cajun Gingerbread Boy to the end of the river. Then the dog caught him and shared the gingerbread with everyone. Then mawmaw baked one again.

 Declan: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy found M'sieur Cocodrie. He went on his back and fell into the water.

 Chris: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy was eaten by the crocodile and was inside his tummy. Tarzan came off a cloud and held open the crocodile's mouth. The Gingerbread Boy got out and swung on a vine to the land.

Sam: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy was pushed into the bayou and he evaporated. Then another crocodile got in a fight with M'sieur Cocodrie.

 Zack: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy jumped on an otter and the otter said, "Maybe if you jump on my back then you won't get wet. Maybe if you jump on my nose you will get wet". Then, GULP!

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