Creepy Carrots!

Starred review from June 25, 2012
In a spot-on parody of a paranoid thriller, a hungry bunny senses “creepy carrots” watching his every move. Jasper Rabbit doesn’t think twice about plundering the carrots of Crackenhopper Field “until they started following him.” Jasper glimpses three jack-o-lantern–jawed carrots behind him in the bathroom mirror (when he turns around it’s just a washcloth, shampoo bottle, and rubber duck—or is it?), and he yells for his parents when a carrot shadow looms on his bedroom wall. Reynolds (Snowbots) makes liberal use of ellipses for suspense, conjuring the “soft... sinister... tunktunktunk of carrots creeping.” Brown (Children Make Terrible Pets) illustrates in noirish grayscale with squash-orange highlights and dramatic lighting, framing each panel in shiny black for a claustrophobic film-still effect that cements the story’s horror movie feel. Jasper’s grin grows maniacal as he constructs a fortress and moat to contain the offending carrot patch, giving the carrots a happy ending in this Hitchcock spoof (Brown even sneaks in a sly Vertigo reference). Watch out, vegetarians—these carrots have bite! Ages 4–8. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management.