Goodbye Status Quo!

Our lives are governed by rules, by laws, principles of etiquette.  Some are written, others are understood.  Within the structure of these guidelines, individual beliefs play an important part.

For some following what is, what always has been and will continue to be so, is easy.  For others, it's confusing, frustrating and not where their heart directs them.  Mr. Tiger Goes Wild (Little, Brown and Company) written and illustrated by Caldecott Honor award-winning Peter Brown (Creepy Carrots!) is about being brave enough to break the mold.

Everyone was perfectly fine
with the way things were.
Everyone but Mr. Tiger.

Propriety was pushing Mr. Tiger to his limits.  It was simply too ho-hum, too confining and left no room for play.  The beauty in being a tiger is being wild after all...right?

So Mr. Tiger decided to try something a bit different.  Instead of walking upright like all his fellow friends, he boldly lowered his body to stride out on all fours.  Not surprisingly, it was the right thing to do.

Mr. Tiger was shedding the skins of confinement.  And he liked it.  He liked it so much he did more and more each day.  He ran, he chased, he climbed and he roared a very loud roar.  Let me tell you though, there was a lot of tut-tutting going on by his fellow townies.

The day he jumped into the fountain in the central square, loosing all his clothes, was the final straw for his up-to-that-point tolerant pals.  Sternly asked to leave, he joyfully departed for the wilderness.  Away from the buildings, streets, clothing, and orderly lifestyle, Mr. Tiger went completely wild!

The freedom was exhilarating but something was missing, the comfort of the familiar.  Making his way back to his town, friends and home, he made a startling discovery.  Mr. Tiger's fearlessness had paved the way. ROAR!


In direct spare statements and examples our narrator makes it quite obvious that Mr. Tiger is ready for change.  Peter Brown's word placement and pacing create the same tension and energy for the reader that Mr. Tiger is feeling.  By placing dialogue in speech bubbles along with the narration the story becomes more personal.  We are intimately involved.  We want to roar (and will probably do so with abandon).

Toward the end of June Peter Brown and I exchanged a series of tweets.

ROAR!!! My very first copies of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild arrived! It might have been worth all the hard… http://t.co/rKIWRf2QDE
— peterbrown! (@itspeterbrown) June 25, 2013

@Loveofxena Why YES, the case cover IS different! I was wondering if anyone would notice that little detail...
— peterbrown! (@itspeterbrown) June 25, 2013

It's the care given to every facet of this book, which makes readers want to go wild themselves.  Peter Brown even goes wild in the illustrations created by trying a new technique, using a different combination of mediums, India ink, watercolor, gouache, and pencil which are digitally composited and colored.  If you look closely you will notice the fifth color, orange, which was included in the printing of the book on paper.

The jacket is a double page spread with Mr. Tiger in the wilderness.  The quote on the back,

There is a time and place for everything---
even going wild.

alludes to the changes which will occur as does the front and back cover, a textured pattern of stripped tiger fur, rough to the touch.  The opening endpapers of taupe, gray bricks are a sharp contrast to the closing endpapers done in hues of green in the stylized ferns found in Brown's forest.

The placement of elements on each of the illustrated pages, whether they are two page, single page or several smaller ones on an individual page, is impeccable; the conversation between Mr. Deer and Mr. Tiger,  the movement of Mr. Tiger as he gets his wild idea, the tall building he climbs in the gutter of two pages, or a potion of his, now, unclothed body running off the right page.  Liberal use of white space draws the reader's eye exactly where it needs to go.  Mr. Tiger's facial expressions convey his moods precisely.  One of my favorite illustrations is the two-page spread of toucans in the air, fish in the water, the series of waterfalls cascading over cliffs , trees, ferns and Mr. Tiger roaring.  You can feel joy in the air.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild written and illustrated by Peter Brown is your ticket to a roaring good time. It's an invitation to be yourself, to be brave and perhaps change those around you.  Some rules whether written or understood are meant to be broken.

Enjoy Peter Brown speaking about Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.




Follow this link to a Q & A with Peter Brown at Publishers Weekly.  Peter Brown was interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast about the process for bringing this book to readers.  Follow this link to begin the blog tour of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.  This link has a couple of fun activity sheets.  This links to a new post Peter Brown composed for his blog, Mr. Tiger Gets Styled.

And whatever you do, remember to Roar! at least once this weekend.

What's Orange, Crunchy and...Scary?

Since I read Peter Benchley's Jaws (eons ago), I have not been in the ocean; not even my big toe.  When  I saw the movie, I was one of the viewers gasping for air and lifting my legs up from the floor.  The combination of textual narrative and visuals will do that to you.

I don't think I'm ever going to feel the same sense of freedom or safety walking through the produce section in the grocery store any more either.  Author Aaron Reynolds has penned a title, Creepy Carrots! (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) about a very peculiar bunch of veggies.  Eerie illustrations by Peter Brown pay tribute to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone in the best possible way.

Jasper Rabbit has a passion for carrots.  And the carrots that grew in Crackenhopper Field were the best. 

Actually Jasper Rabbit has an obsession with carrots.  Every single time he passes this particular patch of land, home to these crunchy munchies, he grabs as many as he can.  But these are no ordinary carrots, these carrots are...ALIVE!

This carrot-craving bunny is not so far gone though that he cannot help but notice some strange sounds.  What's that noise?  Could it be the sound of roaming roots?

No, carrots can't move.  It must be this little hopper's overactive imagination.  Right?  Wrong!

Soon he sees them in the bathroom, the tool shed, in his bedroom and well, just about anyplace he goes.  The goosebumps-on-the-flesh part is he's the only one seeing them.  Then a hundred carat idea sprouts into Jasper's brain; the stupendous proportions of this plan are staggering.

It's surprising what fear-fueled adrenaline will do for one small rabbit.  But then, wasn't that the plan all along?  Whose plan was it really?

Reynolds's narrative is as crisp as those wily wandering plants.  His succinct sentences employ verbs actively creating a vision of Jasper's love of this food; pulled, yanked and ripped without costing him a single cent.  He makes JR's life seem as normal as the next person's...er...hare's...with his mention of school, little league practice, and home life.  There, of course, is nothing normal about

...creepy carrots creeping EVERYWHERE.

Peter Brown, an author ( You Will Be My Friend, Children Make Terrible Pets and Chowder, to name a few) and illustrator, brings his talents to these pages to create a deliciously, delightful spooky spin on the story. Initially drawing in pencil on paper the illustrations are put together digitally and colored to give us the chilling black and white, browns and oranges of his visuals.  His cover catches the reader's eye immediately, causing one to wonder if those angry Creepy Carrots! are going to do more than give the frightened rabbit the heebie-jeebies.

Endpapers show rows of carrots, like an advancing army of one's nightmares, with the occasional grin on some; careful readers will note the difference between the front and back depictions. The title, across two pages, mirrors a television screen at the introduction to a new episode.  In fact, the entire book is like watching an old television show; the art takes you back to an older time, a time when imaginations could and did run wild.

You have to love the way Brown conveys the range of emotions that flicker across Jasper Rabbit's face, appreciation, glee, questioning, panic, all the stages of fear and triumphant determination. Then too, there are the carrots.  Who knew eyes and mouths on vegetables could say so much.  My favorite flash back to the past is Jasper, bug-eyed and gasping with fright, splayed across a swirl of fiendish carrots.


Aaron Reynolds spins a haunting tale where "what-ifs" rule the day as Peter Brown works his illustrative magic.  This team gives new meaning to the word creepy in Creepy Carrots!  If you are out walking about in your local town, walking past that field or vacant lot that all towns have, whatever you do, don't touch anything; definitely don't pick the carrots!

Before this gem hit bookstores, I watched this video about the illustrative process Peter Brown used to create his artwork.  I knew I had to have this book.   I do love this book; another copy is on its way to my home.



The Creepy Carrots Zone from Peter Brown on Vimeo.
This video was recently posted on YouTube.