The Hoarder! Too Many Carrots by Katy Hudson

RABBIT LOVED CARROTS!

RABBIT WAS PROUD OF HIS COLLECTION AND BURROWED THEM AWAY IN HIS COZY HOLE.

BUT RABBIT HAD A PROBLEM. A BIG PROBLEM.

A rabbit's gotta right to crave carrots.

But there can be too much of a good thing, and Rabbit's collection has reached critical mass!

His burrow has so many carrots that he has to burrow into his burrow through the veggies. And trying to sleep surrounded, top, bottom, and on both sides by pointy root vegetables? Fahgeddaboudit.

Carrots are falling out of his mail slot, and his roof is bulging through with carrots and more carrots.

"I NEED A PLACE TO SLEEP!" RABBIT TOLD TORTOISE.

Tortoise offers to share his house, but, problem is, his shell is his house!

Rabbit gives it the old college try, squeezing and wiggling his way inside Tortoise's snug shell. But the fit is so tight that the two-headed tortoise shell tumbles out of control.

Tortoise's attempt to crash with Torty sends them rolling downhill and then...CRASH! into a rock.

Rabbit tries out Bird's nest, but when he tries to nest along with his carrots...CRACK! goes Bird's branch.

When the bough breaks, down comes Bird's nest, carrots and all!

Squirrel takes pity on his rodent cousin and invites Rabbit and the rest of the now homeless friends to bring their bedrolls for a sleepover in his commodious hollow tree. But soon the overstuffed trunk splits, cracks, and crashes, and the four footloose friends are forced to split the scene posthaste. Beaver offers his stick-built waterfront home beside the pond, but a flash flood floats them all away, carrots and all.

Beaver, Squirrel, Bird, Tortoise AND Rabbit are all washed up, embedded in a mud bank. Is it time for Rabbit to reconsider the merits of carrot collecting?

Which brings up a new problem. What to do with too many carrots? Where's Bugs Bunny when you need him?

There is one way, and Katy Hudson's newest, Too Many Carrots (Capstone Young Readers, 2016), ends with a jolly potluck supper, with Rabbit providing all the carrot cake, carrot casserole, carrot juice, and carrot soup that the gang can gobble.

And then all the buddies bunk down in the only house left standing--and plenty roomy--Rabbit's Burrow!

It seems Rabbit now has too many roomies--but that's a story for another day!

Katy Hudson's clever narrative turns upside down the old premise of "there's always room for one more," in a funny story of true friends adorned with rambunctiously detailed pen-and-ink (with plenty of orange paint) illustrations in a wry and witty look at the downside of too much of a good thing.

This rabbit tale begs to be paired up with Aaron Reynolds' Caldecott Honor Book, Creepy Carrots! (Read my review here).

High-Speed Chase! The Runaway Egg by Katy Hudson

Mother Hen said, "Chick, would you watch your baby brother for a bit?

Keep him warm and safe until I get back!"

How hard can that be? thinks Chick, since his brother is an egg. It's not like he's going to do anything.

But no sooner does Mrs. Hen fly the coop than Chick hears a ominous CRACK from the bottom of the egg, and out pops--a leg. With an even more ominous KER-RACK, another leg pokes out, and YIPES! the egg is afoot!

Egg is off, and the chase is on!

Egg blindly races right past the PIG STY sign and along the top rail of the pig pen. Chick, however, is not so nimble and falls into the mucky mud. Yuck! But he bravely charges on, as his brother bumbles into the sheep barn where shearing is in progress and some scary scissors snip just a bit from Chick's stubby tail feathers! HEY!

"THAT'S MY BOTTOM!"

But Chick has no time to lament his abbreviated tail feathers. His brother dashes on, right into the pen of .... THE BULL! Egg, no doubt seeking warmth, cozies up right next to the burly bull who's taking a snooze, just as his shell decides to crack a bit more, allowing one tiny wing to protrude. Chick courageously grabs his little brother's wing and reverses course in a race back to the chicken coop, with the abruptly wakened Bull hot on his heels, arriving just in the nick of time before Mama Hen waddles in.

"Look!" she cried. "Your baby brother is hatched!

Are you ready to be a big brother?"

Chick's weary look fairly drips with an ironic "If you only knew....", in Katy Hudson's delightfully droll latest, The Runaway Egg (Random House, 2017). There's plenty of slapstick farmyard fun as Chick pursues the egg on legs through the barnyard with his own well-being somewhat in doubt, and Hudson, author of the popular Too Many Carrots, has the knack of storytelling well in hand as her action flows quickly from left to right with each page turn. Hudson's clever artwork, done in a fine blackline and what looks to be digital "watercolors," captures the faces of the various bemused animals as they witness the odd spectacle of an egg on legs chased by a chick through the flowers and across the barnyard. It's all great fun, just right for Eastertide and springtime reading. "Being an older sibling has never been this harrowing and hilarious," say Kirkus Reviews.

What Winter's Nap? A Loud Winter's Nap by Katy Hudson

TORTOISE HAD JUST SNUGGLED IN FOR A LONG WINTER'S NAP.

Bears aren't the only ones who hibernate in winter, you know. But when Tortoise hangs his DO NOT DISTURB UNTIL SPRING, sign he overlooks another posting lower down on the tree.

His Winter Nap To Do List, dutifully checked off, Tortoise has just settled down for a long... well, you know... when of all people--Robin, that habitual harbinger of spring--appears to invite him to the winter woods singing class. Why isn't he down South already? And since when did robins need singing lessons?

Well, tortoises definitely DON'T!

"NO!" GRUMBLED TORTOISE. "I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP! TORTOISES DON'T LIKE WINTER!"

Tortoise grumpily packs up and heads out of earshot of all the Fa, La, La, La, Las, puts up his tent, and crawls inside. But Robin is determined that Tortoise is going to see what is welcome and wonderful about winter. How about joining him in an ice sculpture or two, he chirps? Tortoise repeats his mantra and moves off to hang his hammock between two snow-laden saplings when Squirrel appears to invite him to join in a snowball fight. No, and NO again!

"TORTOISES DON'T LIKE WINTER. THEY JUST DON'T!"

Tortoise moves again, this time with a tall ladder, and ascends to the top of a tall tree to start his long-delayed winter hibernation.

But he forgets about Beaver, always busy felling trees in the forest, and his arboreal bed comes down with the rest of the tree.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH. KERPLUNK!

Is there no rest for the weary anywhere in these woods?

No one is going to bet that Tortoise's hibernation happens this winter, in Katy Hudson's new story of the season, A Loud Winter's Nap (Capstone Books, 2017). Hudson, the author of the Caldecott Honor-winning Too Many Carrots, has a winning wintry picture book with her latest, with her own illustrations of the carrot-swiping critters in her first book back again in this slapstick-funny story of an all-unwilling wide-awake tortoise in winter. Kids will be chiming in on Tortoise's oft-repeated lament, and they will cheer at the rousing ending in which Tortoise scores in a somnolent and impromptu slalom down the slopes after all. It takes all kinds, and just as there are two kinds of people--winter welcomers and winter avoiders--Hudson's little forest animals stand in as winsomely annoying snow day lovers in this delightful winter's tale.

Share this new one with Jane Yolen's classic Bear Snores On (The Bear Books), and for more winter animal lore, her Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep (see review here).

A Very Persnickety Cake Bake! The Perfect Birthday Recipe by Katy Hudson

BEAVER HAD ALWAYS LIKED EVERYTHING DONE PROPERLY.

EVERY PROJECT HE TOOK ON WAS DONE CAREFULLY, THOUGHTFULLY, AND ... PERFECTLY.

Since the next day is his birthday, Beaver has a persnickety plan for his cake. His vision is alternating chocolate and carrot layers swathed in dark chocolate frosting, glazed with idyllic caramel swirls, and artistically strewn with lots of sprinkles. But when his friends hear his punctilious plan, they doubt he can carry it off alone.

And then Rabbit speaks the words Beaver most fears....

"WE'LL ALL HELP!"

But curmudgeonly fussbudget Beaver recalls the old saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth," and tries to discourage Rabbit, Bird, Tortoise, and Squirrel from pitching in on his recipe, but his well-meaning friends make a mess of everything. Finally Beaver bars them from his kitchen and brusquely brushes his friends off with an "ARGHHHH!!"

His disappointed friends leave, taking their ingredients away, and Beaver gets down to business. He sifts and grates and beats and bakes.

His product is perfect.

But on his birthday, Beaver is abashed.

What's a perfect birthday party with nobody to come?

Perfection can't match friendship, in Katy Hudson's latest in series, The Perfect Birthday Recipe (Capstone Books, 2020), the next day Beaver has the best birthday ever as he and his buddies party down the next day on a less-than perfect cake, in a perfect parable of the old saw "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!" As in the other books in this highly-reviewed series, Hudson's bright and charmingly detailed artwork, done in full-page and spot-art style, pace the action, building to the subtle conclusion that most things are better done together.

Other jolly through-the-seasons stories in this series are Too Many Carrots, A Loud Winter's Nap (Fiction Picture Books), and The Golden Acorn. (see reviews here).

I Gotta Be Me! Bear and Duck by Katy Hudson

Bear has had it. Being a bear requires poaching some honey from the nearest hive. But being a bee requires that he who pilfers must be punished, and bear has had one too many stings on his nose.

He's had it with bearhood. His nose hurts, his fur is too thick and hot for late spring, and sleeping all winter is nothing but a drag.

"THAT'S IT. I'M DONE WITH BEING A BEAR!"

And just then an alternate lifestyle walks (waddles, actually) by--a mother duck trailed by her little ducktailed darlings, quack-quacking cheerily--and without giving it another thought, Bear steps in to the end of the line. What's not to like about a trial duckdom?

"PLEASE! CAN YOU HELP TEACH ME HOW TO BE A DUCK?"

Mother Duck quickly sizes up the situation. Better to help a bear than be a second helping for one, she figures, so she takes on the makeover.

Nest building is a bit challenging for a bear, and sitting on eggs requires a certain delicacy of positioning, but the next lesson, taking a dip in the pond, is quite refreshing. Splash! For some reason, ducklings don't seem to enjoy a water fight. Oh, well. On to the next lesson--flying!

But before he can attain liftoff, Bear's flying lesson turns into a crash course.

"BEING A BEAR DOESN'T SEEM ALL THAT BAD," REMARKS DUCK PHILOSOPHICALLY.

And there's a honey of a sweet ending in Katy Hudson's just published Bear and Duck (Harper/Collins Books, 2015) when Bear climbs a tree to sulk and finds a trove of honey to share with his new "family." Hudson's enticing pastel ink and watercolor illustrations have a little fun with trying out an unlikely alternative persona while finding a fun family to hang out with in this ducky tale of good friends found. "A charming story of friendship and acceptance, distinguished by humorous and affectionate illustrations," adds Kirkus Reviews" in their starred review.

May Time, Bunny Time! Too Many Bunnies by Tomie De Paola

"Well," said Daddy Hopkins, looking out on a fine spring morning, "it's time to plant our gardens."

"This year," said Mommy Hopkins, "Daddy and I want all of you children to help,"

"Oh, Goody!" cried the fifteen little Hopkins.

Mommy and Daddy need to go buy some carrot seeds, but first they give all the bunnies their assignments.

The five quintuplets, Willy, Wally, Wiley, Wendy, and Winny get spades and start to dig. The quads Bonny, Bunny, Billy, and Biff get rakes. The triplets Flossie, Frannie, and Fuffie are set to make the rows, the twins Skipper and Skeezer are assigned to plant seeds, and little Petey is sent for the hose to water the rows.

But if too many cooks spoil the broth, too many gardeners can make a mess of the garden.

When Mommy and Daddy Hopkins return with the seeds, the bunnies are all milling around, doing everything at once. It's a muddy muddle.

But Mommy knows how to manage a mob of bunnies, and soon has them working in their teams, in best-selling author-illustrator Tomie de Paola's Too Many Bunnies (Little Simon Books), in a lovable board book that explains planting and teamwork, illustrated appealingly in true de Paola spring-styled pastel watercolors. Great for planting time, share this one with Katy Hudson's inimitable Too Many Carrots (See my review here).