November 12, 2016

The Challenge Continues . . . The 2013 Buckeye Book Award


And the reading challenge continues!  As stated in a previous post, my librarian friend Ashley Lambacher of the Book Talker and I are hosting the Buckeye Book Award Reading Challenge.  Our goal is to read all the past winners from the children’s book category in chronological order from 1982 to the present.  I will read the K-2 picture book winners and Ashley will read the 4-8/3-5 chapter book winners.  Today I continue my challenge by reading the winner of the K-2 Buckeye Book Award in 2013, Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds.

Creepy Carrots! chronicles the journey of Jasper Rabbit.  Jasper loves carrots, especially the ones from Crackenhopper field.  But one day, as Jasper is about to help himself to another snack, he hears the sinister sounds of carrots creeping.  From there it goes from bad to worse.  Paranoid Jasper sees the carrots everywhere: in his bathtub, in the garden shed and even in his bedroom at night.  Or is he just suffering from an overactive imagination?  The illustrations fit the harrowing tone of this book perfectly.  Each page has just a touch of orange, either as the carrots or as the objects that Jasper thinks might be carrots.  It helps paint the story and keep the reader guessing if Jasper really IS seeing carrots or just imagining them.  The ultimate massage is greed isn’t good.  For Jasper, his greed for carrots proved to be his own undoing.  My elementary students love this book!  Especially the 5th graders, which is a difficult audience to capture with a picture book.  Because this book is well-loved by many, it’s a perfect win for the 2013 Buckeye Book Award.

Ashley -  What do you think of Creepy Carrots?  Your upcoming 2014 book is a really good one, Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Would you like to join Ashley and I as we read through Ohio’s award winning books?  We welcome any and all who are interested in participating in this fun reading challenge.  For more information, click here.