Can three hungry rabbits eat an entire garden full of mouthwatering vegetables and not get caught? They'll do their best, but one thing stands in their way: the diligent young gardener who doesn't want to share her tasty lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots. She'll only let the rabbits stay if they eat all the vegetables she doesn't like.

But who wants smelly leeks, puny parsnips, and tough old turnips? Not these rabbits!

REVIEWS

BookList

PreS-Gr. 1. When it comes to vegetables, rabbits can be as finicky as kids. The three long-eared critters here are on a stealth mission in search of carrots, creeping under the cucumbers and burrowing through the green beans. A very annoyed gardener catches them red-handed and offers less desirable crops as a compromise. But the trio refuses her rutabagas and turns down her turnips. Clear, at last, on what the rabbits are after, the softhearted gardener complies, offering a tasty pile of sweet, crunchy carrots. No rabbit could ask for more. The lilting, rhyming text brings to mind Peters' This Way Home (1994) as well as Denise Fleming's In the Tall, Tall Grass (1991), and Mack's pictures, in thickly applied brush strokes, perfectly capture the story's rough-and-tumble action and its playful tone. The picture of the three brown rabbits lounging on their backs, legs crossed and munching radishes amidst rows of tasty lettuce leaves says it all. Terry Glover
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Parenting Magazine

"Thanks to the saucy rhymes, you and your preschooler will be tapping your toes all the way to the grocery store."
 
Children's Literature

It is spring and gardeners are taking delight in watching their young crops grow. Humans are waiting for those first tasty vegetables, but other eyes are watching; those are rabbit eyes. The rabbits sneak into the garden, ignoring many vegetables and avoiding the gardener, in search of carrots. The reader learns to name and identify many vegetables. The book's text and illustrations make it an interesting story for young readers or as a read aloud for parents. The rabbits do have a big collision with the gardener and the reader fears the worst, but the gardener has a kind heart. Both the author and illustrator have first hand experiences with wild bunnies. It is a fun read.
-Barbara Youngblood

Kirkus Reviews

Peter Rabbit has nothing on these three flop-eared foragers: "We nibble the leaves, then gobble the peas. We munch on the cabbages and crunchy red radishes. We EAT and EAT and EAT. Uh-oh." Uh-oh indeed: here comes the angry gardener. Mack uses long brush strokes to create a trio of irresistibly cute, furry bunnies, who lead the gardener on a wild chase before tumbling into her very lap. No Mr. MacGregor, she then tries to buy them off with old and damaged vegetables. As if. But she's not done, for when the rabbits scamper insouciantly back to their woodpile, they find a carrot-y surprise waiting. A new- or pre-reader's delight, this pairs big, simple, multicolored words to sunny garden scenes replete with luscious looking edibles. Yum.