The month of October is all about Halloween and sharing spooky stories about things that go bump in the night! Or better yet, tales of scary vegetables!
How could vegetables possible be frightening? The creepiest vegetables for me were the turnips and rutabagas my Mom used to hide in her homemade beef stew. What we thought were harmless, comforting potatoes would turn out to be yucky, slimy roots! Ew! Scary! But what if those veggies had started following me around, plotting their revenge? Yikes!
That is exactly what happens to Jasper in Creepy Carrots, a Caldecott Medal award-winning book by Aaron Reynolds. Jasper is a sweet little rabbit who simply loves carrots. Morning, noon, and night, for meals and for snacks, Jasper helps himself and plucks carrots from Crackenhopper Field any time of day, all day long, and munches away. But one day something weird happens.
“He first noticed something strange after the big game against the East Valley Hares. Jasper was about to help himself to a victory snack … when he heard it. The soft … sinister … tunktunktunk of carrots creeping.”
Suddenly Jasper believes the carrots are stalking him (all puns are intended!) but who will believe him? And what is a bunny to do? He starts to see carrots everywhere, but each time he points them out to a grown-up he is told it’s just his imagination running way with him. Poor Jasper finds himself in a real stew and devises a scheme for getting to the root of his problem. (I warned you, all puns are intentional!)
Illustrator Peter Brown creates a wonderful Twilight Zone atmosphere with black and white images that have a graphic novel/comic book feel. He juxtaposes soft, cuddly Jasper to the pointy, angry carrots that turn up (turnip, get it?) in very funny but creepy scenes. Brown’s bright orange carrots suddenly become harmless objects, such as an orange washcloth, an orangish tube of toothpaste, and a carroty orange toothbrush, whenever a grown-up enters the scene. Hmmm.
Reynolds’ funny story has just enough suspense to keep readers guessing to the very end, which has an ironic twist as well as a lesson: Gordon Gekko is wrong—greed is not good. The funny ending will really make young readers think. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this book 14 carrots!
“What Kids are Reading” is a regular feature in the Sun, highlighting children’s books available for young readers in Santa Maria. This week’s recommendations are made by local writer, humorist, educator, and creepy grandmother Ariel Waterman.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2013.