Creepy Carrots!

Title: Creepy Carrots!

Author: Aaron Reynolds

Illustrator: Peter Brown

Genre: Caldecott

Awards: Caldecott Honor

Age Group: Pre-K–3rd

Jasper Rabbit looooves carrots. Especially the ones in Crackenhopper Field. There's one teensy problem...the carrots are following him! Everywhere Jasper looks he sees carrots creeping around. Jasper decides that he is going to come up with a plan to stop these creepy carrots once and for all. He spent all day building a nice tall fence around Crackenhopper Field. Finally! That will put a stop to those pesky carrots. But two can play that game, because as it turns out, the fence also keeps Jasper out. Looks like the carrots' plan worked! Creepy carrots? More like sneaky carrots!

Creepy Carrots! is a fun and very seasonally-appropriate book seeing as it's nearing Halloween! I will most definitely use this book in my classroom! I can see kids getting a kick out of this book. The kids I babysit sure did! This book is awesome because it has an element of spookiness to it which is always a fan-favorite. The illustrations really add to the effect because they look very hand-sketched and are shaded to where it looks extra dark and gloomy.
I would say that Creepy Carrots! is perfect for students in Pre-K through 3rd grade. It is simple enough for a young child to understand but engaging enough for older students to enjoy it, too. There are not very many words on each page at all. In fact, the illustrations are what really makes this book shine!
Some activities to go along with this book...

• POV Activity: This book shares the POVs of both Jasper and the carrots. Jasper loves carrots and just wants to eat them all, but the carrots do not want to be eaten and come up with a plan to stop Jasper. Students could write from the POVs of either Jasper or the carrots and say what they would do in their situation.
• Expectation vs. Reality: Students could complete a worksheet to help them keep expectation and reality straight. Jasper thinks he sees carrots everywhere he goes, but in reality, some of those things are just everyday objects.
• Summarizing Craft: Students will need 5 carrots made with colored paper. On the green tops of the carrots, write Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then. On each corresponding carrot students will write that particular element of the story.