Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 07/01/2012 PreS-Gr 2—Jasper Rabbit's craving for carrots is insatiable. He raids Crackenhopper Field several times a day, and his manner shows no regard for the vegetables' feelings. He "pulled," "yanked," and "ripped" them out before greedily gorging. Everything changes when he senses that he is being followed. Carrots seem to be "creeping" up on him everywhere he goes. Jasper's eyes play tricks on him (or do they?), as he sees the veggies' menacing reflections in the bathroom mirror, silhouettes on the bedroom wall, shapes on the shelves in the shed. Brown's panels-bordered in black, drawn in pencil, and digitally composed and colored-cleverly combine the mood of film noir with the low-tech look of early children's television staging for an aesthetic that is atmospheric, but not overwhelming. The scenes are rendered in black, white, and gray-except for the carrots and the objects that stand in for them when Jasper does his double takes: these are all orange. Panels in varying sizes and multiple perspectives keep pace with Reynolds's tongue-in-cheek narrative as Jasper solves his problem by building a fortress, complete with an alligator-filled moat, around the offending plants. Little does he know that the carrots are cheering on the other side of the fence at the success of their plan to keep the herbivore out. This age-appropriate horror story takes children's fears seriously and then offers them an escape through genuine comic relief. Contrast this with the equally hilarious moat and bunnies in Candace Fleming's Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! (Atheneum, 2002).—Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library - Copyright 2012 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 09/02/2012 Playing on the something-is-stalking-me-but-when-I-turn-around-nothing-is-there fears that have fueled countless scary movies, this goose-pimpler introduces a young bunny named Jasper who “couldn’t get enough carrots . . . until they started following him.” Tired of heart-racing, sleepless nights, Jasper concocts a master plan and builds an alligator-filled moat and sky-high fence around Crackenhopper Field to keep those nasty carrots at bay. Turns out, their plan to keep that nasty rabbit from eating their carrot buddies has a similarly happy ending. Brown’s charcoally black artwork is highlighted by deep oranges and delivers on the lighthearted thrills of Reynolds’ fright-night story. - Copyright 2012 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 10/01/2012 “Jasper Rabbit had a passion for carrots. And the carrots that grew in Crackenhopper Field were the best.” Young Jasper has therefore developed the habit of snatching carrots out of the field whenever he passes by it on the way to school, to baseball, to wherever. But then something strange happens: the carrots begin to follow him wherever he goes, lurking in the dark corners at night (he hears “terrible, carroty breathing”) and disappearing before they can be seen by anyone else. What’s a carrot-stalked bunny to do? The book neatly balances menace and absurdity in this strange tale of vegetable stalking, playing up the contrast between the genuinely spooky elements and the unassuming threat. There’s a little bit of a logical strain in the resolution—Jasper fences in the carrots so they can’t get out, which is exactly what the carrots, who don’t want him to get in, wished—but it’s still a clever and comedic final turn. Glossy black borders and smudgy pencil outlines lightened only by paler gray and set off by the orange of the carrots (or carroty-colored lookalikes) provide a smoky Halloween flavor to Brown’s nocturnal art, and the scenes are dense with creepy silhouettes and foreboding shadows. Brown meticulously controls his compositions and balances his spreads, often paralleling or mirroring verso and recto or tidily subdividing pages into panels. This would make a lively partner to Speed’s Brave Potatoes (BCCB 6/00), and it’ll turn a Halloween storytime into a vegan’s nightmare. DS - Copyright 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.