"The Gingerbread Man". A tale for "early readers"? Really?

Donovan and Maria were sorting through Grace's books, preparing a bag of discards for Goodwill. This book made the discard pile. You remember the story of "The Gingerbread Man", don't you? This little old woman makes a gingerbread man with two raisin eyes and a smiley mouth. Just as she was about to eat him, he pops of the plate and runs out the door, yelling, "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

OK - he comes off as a little prick. One could argue that he was only saving his skin. But we all have our place in the food chain and he's a COOKIE. Now during his travels, the gingerbread man says the same thing to a cow and a horse and a sly fox, who tricks the gingerbread man into riding on his back across the river, then gobbles the gingerbread man up.

Ooooooo. I can't look! Tell me when it's over! What a frightening picture for an early reader - the fox, silhouetted, teeth barred, ready to chow down the gingerbread man. Is this the image of the prickish gingerbread man you wanna leave with a 2-year-old before you tuck her into bed at night. "Sweet dreams, baby."?