Creepy Carrots! - Audiobook

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds; Illustrated by, Peter Brown; Narrated by James Naughton. Weston Woods Studios, Inc. 2012.  

Plot summary: Jasper Rabbit loves to eat carrots. His obsession with these delightful vegetable treats is about to be his undoing. The creepy carrots are following Jasper and popping up everywhere. What will he do?

Awards: Caldecott Honor Book 2013 & Odyssey Award Honor - Audio Book 2014

Audience: The ideal reader would be 3-7 years old. The audiobook version though requires a good imagination and the ability to sit still to listen to an audio recording. Readers will enjoy the way Reynolds resolves the problem in the story; they like to see stories about right and wrong. The expression and sound effects are quite engaging. Finally, the audiobook is a short eight minutes which should hold the attention span of youth in this age range.

Strengths and Weaknesses:  The eerie music and amazing bass voice of the narrator James Naughton create a very spooky mood for the reader. The inflection and expression Naughton use are friendly yet spooky as well. The sound makes spooky very approachable for this young reader age group.

The weakness is that the 3-5 age group will most likely want to see the illustrations in the book. The audiobook can stand alone, but the younger child may have trouble visualizing the story.

Creative Uses: I could see this easily being used in a classroom or public library to excite students about making a vegetable garden. Children would want to keep out Jasper Rabbit and other critters or insects that could damage your produce. They would also want to be just like Jasper Rabbit and eat as much of the vegetable goodness as they can get their hands on.

Carrot cooking party: I think a carrot cooking party might be the trick to push this along just a bit further. Since carrots can be eaten savory or sweet you might end up with some very yummy dishes.

Lesson plans and games: You can bring in math as students plot a garden space and measure perimeter and create a grid for planting the vegetables at ideal distances. You could easily adapt a game of freeze tag and call it Creepy Carrots. Jasper Rabbit is “it” and he needs to eat up all the carrots, so they don’t creep him out. Additionally, you can get in some creative writing or drama practice and have children act out parts of the book or rewrite the ending (CrepyCarrotsD).

Art extension: To further extend the idea of storytelling or to connect to the artwork visit Reynold’s website. There you will find under the Creepy Carrots section a link to a video explaining the illustrators process and how he created the look for the book. If you have read the paper copy, this video could inspire some budding artists. Ask them to create a new look for a fairy tale based on a favorite movie, tv show, or book. You can even ask children to connect how the sound of the audio book relates or connects to the visuals Peter Brown was using to create a spooky mood.

Works Cited

“Creepy CarrotsD.” Illinois School Library Media Association, 31 Oct. 2017,  www.islma.org

Reynolds, Aaron. “Aaron Reynolds Children’s Author” Aaron Reynolds, www.aaron-reynolds.com/creepycarrots.html.