When you get a super-creative writer to tell a story and a super-talented artist to draw the pictures, you get a book like Creepy Carrots. Two of my favorites come together, making this unique tale creepy-cool! A perfect treat for Halloween!

 Introducing Our Featured Friend: Creepy Carrots
Written by Aaron Reynolds, Illustrated by Peter Brown

Okay, we’ve all read Peter Rabbit and seen what it’s like to rummage through a garden from a rabbit’s perspective. We’ve read The Runaway Bunny and loved the ending when bunny and Mother are nestled safely together in their cozy den sharing a carrot. But, no one has yet to ask, what about the carrots? Until Aaron Reynolds thought about life from the view point of the carrots!

When Jasper Rabbit goes into Crackenhopper’s field anytime he wants and takes as many coveted carrots he wants, he begins pay for it. The carrots start following him . . .he thinks!? While brushing his teeth, while walking past their shed, and while trying to sleep, he sees and hears “the soft . . . sinister . . . tunktunktunk of carrots creeping.” But, every time he turns around to confirm the reality of his fear, they aren’t there. At first he thinks it’s his imagination; then his parents think it’s his imagination, but,

By the end of week Jasper was seeing creepy carrots creeping EVERYWHERE.
Jasper knew his parents were wrong. Creepy Carrots were real. And they were coming for him! But they couldn’t get him . . . if they couldn’t get out.

Jasper goes to Crackenhopper Field and builds a fence so high, so strong, and so secure, that no creepy carrot could ever get out again. He hops away from the field,  happy that his plan has worked. But he’s not the only happy one:

And as the sun finally set, the carrots of Crackenhopper Field . . .
cheered!
Their creepy plan had worked. They were sure of it.

Jasper Rabbit would never get into that carrot patch ever again.

Inviting You to Become FRIENDS with Creepy Carrots:
Feel, Relate, Imagine, Explore, Navigate, Develop, Share

Select a couple of questions or activities to do with your children or class:

F- How did you feel the first time reading the story? Where you scared, excited, entertained, or creeped-out?

R- Can you relate to Jasper being afraid? What makes you afraid? Are there any fears that you could turn into something funny because they can’t really happen?

I- Imagine you were a carrot in Crackenhopper Field. Write a note to Jasper warning him to keep away! Try to convince him why he should stop eating your friends . . . or eventually, you!

E- Explore children’s books you are currently reading by looking at the stories from a different point of view. For example, take books about falling leaves or pumpkin patches and look at some scenarios together from the perspective of the leaves or pumpkins.
*Also, check out Aaron Reynolds, Carnivores, as he shares another unique point of view!

N- Navigate your way through lesson plans and author and illustrator interviews on http://www.teachingbooks.net/ql5iyjz

 D- Develop your own drawing of a creepy carrot and make it creepy-cool!

S- Share how you would try to stop the creepy carrots from coming out to follow Jasper? Check out what these kids said: http://polkadotkinders.blogspot.com/2013/04/creepy-carrots-and-lets-get-aquainted.html

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Other Related Posts:
Interview with Author, Aaron Reynolds: http://wp.me/p4m4Tu-rU
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown: http://wp.me/p4m4Tu-5l
The Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer: http://wp.me/p4m4Tu-ru