Growing the Creepy: How Aaron Reynolds’s Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales! Grows With Young Readers

If you’re wondering why I’m writing about creepy, spooky books after Halloween—and after the holiday season—I promise this isn’t because I’m just getting around to it now (although … fair question).

The truth is, great creepy books aren’t seasonal. They don’t belong to one month or one display table. Kids don’t stop loving weird, unsettling, slightly shivery stories once the pumpkins are brought inside—especially not once the air becomes bone dry, the ground freezes solid, and the cold really settles in (muahahaha!). And here in New England, where winter seems to stretch on forever, there’s something especially comforting about a story that lets you feel a litte spooked while you’re safely tucked inside.

That’s part of what makes Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown‘s Creepy books so enduring. They’re not holiday gimmicks. They’re year-round weird. And now, with the new Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales! chapter books, they’re growing right along with their readers.

I still remember this moment so clearly: My youngest son, Trevor, reading Creepy Pair of Underwear! with his preschool teacher and class. It was his turn to bring in a favorite book for story time, and yes—there was creepy pair of underwear craft project afterward. The kids were leaning forward, laughing, squirming just a little, in that perfect this is creepy but I love it way.

So when I heard that Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown were expanding the Creepy world into chapter books, I was immediately curious! Could that same magic—the humor, the tension, the weird—carry forward for kids who had outgrown picture books but weren’t quite ready to leave Jasper Rabbit behind?? I decided to find out, and the wonderful folks over at Simon & Schuster sent me free review copies so that I could provide my honest opinions and review.

Before getting into the chapter books, it’s worth looking back at what makes the original Creepy picture books such standouts (because that same DNA runs straight through this new series):

In Creepy Carrots!, Jasper Rabbit becomes convinced that the carrots he loves to eat are following him. Then, in Creepy Pair of Underwear!, his glowing green underwear appears to have a mind of its own. Finally, in Creepy Crayon!, a purple crayon refuses to be discarded and keeps reappearing when Jasper least expects it.

Each story follows a similar—and brilliantly effective structure: a familiar, everyday object, escalating suspicion, and then a final twist that leaves little readers just unsettled enough to be thoroughly entertained 🙂

Nothing is overtly terrifying. This oh so fine balance of humor, unease, and quirkiness is what made my son Trevor find them “spooky but not scary.”

The new Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales! chapter book series keeps that formula intact—and stretches it. Instead of Jasper being the sole protagonist, he becomes the storyteller and guide, introducing other animals and their unsettling experiences. It’s a smart shift!

Right away, Jasper establishes himself as narrator, commentator, and slightly unreliable expert (we love those) on all things creepy. For early chapter book readers, this creates trust. It feels like their old friend Jasper Rabbit is letting them in on something.

These books are aimed at early chapter book readers, roughly ages 6-9, especially kids transitioning from picture books to longer narratives. From a writing craft perspective, Reynolds accomplishes this with short chapters that keep the momentum going, an intimate narrative voice, and vocabulary that stretches the reader but doesn’t overwhelm them. It’s a series that builds reading confidence without sacrificing good storylines.

In Troubling Tonsils!, just released this past fall, we meet Charlie Marmot, who has his tonsils removed and decides—against all common sense—to keep them in a jar for show-and-tell. At first, the story leans into body-based humor (The jar! The tonsils! The questionable decision-making!), but soon the creep sets in. The tonsils don’t “behave” the way they should, and that’s all I’m going to say so I don’t spoil it. This book is a fantastic entry point into the series. It’s loud, gross, funny, and just unsettling enough to make kids want to read one more chapter.

Unsettling Salad!, coming out next month, shifts gears. Reynolds introduces Thaddeus Badger, a character who believes deeply in science, logic, and explainable phenomena. He trusts that the world makes sense—which makes him the perfect protagonist for a creepy story. He and his friend Oliver Possum are self-professed “junk food junkies” with a particular hankering for their favorite burger joint and an aversion to vegetables and health food. Things take a supernatural and unsettling turn when Oliver eats a salad (at the behest of his well-meaning parents) and the salad fights back!

Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Peter Brown’s grayscale palette with just one color highlighted effectively sets the mood and the pace of these stories. He often captures the characters in mid-thought rather than mid-action. And in those thoughts is where the uneasiness lives. But there is also plenty of humor to go with it—in a facial expression or body posture. These are illustrations that let the reader think this is strange, but it’s also fun. That balance is important for this age group—and it’s handled beautifully.

A third book, Yarn is Everything!, is on the way in July. It looks creepy and I can’t wait!

As a mom, watching the progression of your child from being read to, to choosing a chapter book and devouring it independently—is one of those quiet moments that sticks with you.

What I love about Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales! is that they honor that growth. They don’t ask kids to abandon what they loved about the picture books. They simply invite them a little deeper into the woods.

Hilary Elizabeth Margitich writes books that inspire and empower today’s kids. She is an author of the HISTORY OF HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS series (ABDO Publishing, 2024), THE WORLD OF MONEY series (The Child’s World, 2025), a third series to be released in the fall of 2026, and her debut picture book in the fall of 2028. Hilary holds her Graduate Certificate in Children’s Literature from Penn State University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She works as a children’s literacy volunteer with several nonprofit organizations. Hilary lives in the Boston area with her husband, three sons, and a dog and cat who are roughly the same size.