Otto Carrotto

PreS-Gr 2—Otto's sister wears only red shoes and his best friend is infatuated with blue roller skates. So Otto decides that he will only eat carrots. Raw, cooked, baked, or fried, carrot soup, pizza, cookies, and cake, he eats nothing else for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. But, is it possible for a rabbit to eat too many carrots? When his ears turn into carrots, his classmates nibble on him and tease him with taunts of "Otto Carrotto," and he vows never to eat another carrot. However, unlike the little badger in Lillian and Russell Hoban's Bread and Jam for Frances (HarperCollins, 1964), Otto doesn't learn to embrace new and different foods. He simply changes his obsession from carrots to spinach, and readers will chuckle knowing exactly where the story is heading. Sophisticated readers will pore over the thumbnail drawings and speech bubbles within the intricate collage illustrations, and the boldface text emphasizing repetitive words adds visual interest. Pair this title with Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann's Pinkalicious (HarperCollins, 2006) for a discussion on how a single passion can get out of hand.—Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL