By Aaron Reynolds
A rabbit who gobbles carrots becomes convinced the carrots are creeping after him to get their revenge.
Jasper Rabbit loves the carrots in Crackenhopper Field and yanks them up by the fistful whenever he passes. Then he starts seeing them everywhere, three creepy carrots with hungry little faces, lurking in his bathroom, behind the shed, at the foot of his bed. He's sure they're stalking him. So he builds a giant fence around the field to trap them for good, and the twist is that the carrots are thrilled, because now Jasper can never dig them up again.
Peter Brown drew it like a little horror movie, all deep shadows and one pop of carrot orange, so it delivers a real spooky-movie thrill, and then the ending pulls the rug out and it's just a rabbit outsmarted by vegetables. That combination makes it a brilliant Halloween gift for a child who wants a genuine shiver but will giggle at the end. It's a Caldecott Honor book, so the art is doing a lot of the work.