Picture Book Review: Too Many Carrots

Too Many Carrots
Katy Hudson
Picture Window Books, Feb 1, 2016
Source: from the publisher, through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


I remember when I was a little girl and my mom told me that too much of anything was a bad thing.  I asked, "What about carrots?"  These were the only vegetable I would willingly eat and I was still not too thrilled with the idea of eating any vegetable.  My mom told me that even too many carrots could end up being a bad thing if that's all you ate.  In Too Many Carrots, Rabbit's obsession with his collection of carrots isn't about him eating too many, it's about him hoarding too many. He ends up with so many carrots that he has no where to live because they take up his entire house.  Luckily, Rabbit has some good friends who allow him to stay with them, but Rabbit insists on taking his carrots with him...all of them.

This is a great story that will help teach kids about the importance of not overindulging.  In Rabbit's case it isn't about eating too many carrots (rabbits eat a lot of carrots--right?) but about making those carrots so important that they take over his life.  I'm reading too much into this, I know.  Kids will enjoy the story and like seeing the problem get larger and larger as he has to continually find a new home, for not only him, but the friends he has also made homeless.

The pictures are great.  They're detailed enough that there is plenty to look at and discover, but not overly so.  There's still plenty of white space on the page for young eyes to find some rest and be able to identify the words easily.  One of my favorites pictures is actually the cover pages because there are so many wonderful details and the copyright information is seamlessly integrated into the artwork.

The words are also spaced out well enough so that there's not too much on each page.  As a parent reading to a toddler who has a lot of energy and doesn't make it very long without wanting to turn the page, this means we can *hopefully* get through all the words on the page.  This might not be on every parent's wishlist for good books, but it's one of mine, for the time being.

Kids will laugh at Rabbit's decisions and have fun figuring out how Rabbit should handle the problem of too many carrots.  Too Many Carrots would be a great Spring or Easter gift if you're into that.

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