“Run run fast as you can! You no can catch me I'm one musubi man!” The Musubi Man is the Hawaiʻi version of the familiar Gingerbread Man story retold in local style.

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Author Sandi Takayama has been a school librarian in Hawaiʻi for 15 years. As a child she enjoyed writing stories and often made up her own endings to familiar tales. She lives in Mililani with 4 Spam musubi-loving children and a wonderful husband who understands her need to scribble in notebooks at odd hours of the night. 

Illustrated by Pat Hall

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hardcover   |   24 pages   |   7.25" x 10.5"   |   color

REVIEWS:

“This is a Hawaii version of the familiar story of a special confection that just as soon as his maker is finished with him gets up and runs away... This story is charmingly told and the illustrations are the sort that invite rereading because there are so many sweet little details tucked into every picture that you just want to look and look and laugh.”

- The Honolulu Advertiser

“The Musubi Man is a Hawaiian version of The Gingerbread Man with an old woman creating a musubi man out of cooked rice... Students can compare this Hawaiian story with other Gingerbread Man tales differentiating among characters and events and identifying the unique influences of location and culture.”

- Iowa Reading Journal

“How many generations of children grew up learning to read Cinderella, The Gingerbread Man or The Princess and the Pea? How many of us continue to read these stories to our students our children our grandchildren? Better than that how many of us have now discovered and now also regale them with Sumorella, The Musubi Man, and The Prince and The Li Hing Mui? They are Hawaii’s version of the time-honored fairy tales adapted by Kailua Elementary librarian Sandi Takayama for use in libraries classrooms and in the home... mostly the books are used to encourage and develop a love of reading in elementary school age children.”

- Hawaii State Teachers Association Magazine