Image of a scared carrot inside a home
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Poetry,

I've Turned Into a Carrot

A silly poem about an unexpected event 

By Jack Prelutsky
From the May/June 2025 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify how the words in the poem rhyme and create a certain feeling.

Complexity Factors
  • Levels of Meaning
    On one level, “I’ve Turned Into a Carrot” is a fictional poem about a child who has turned into a carrot overnight. On another level, it is meant to be funny and amusing.
  • Structure
    The poem contains one stanza of eight lines. The poem has an AABB rhyme scheme.
  • Language
    The language is mostly simple and conversational, although it includes a few challenging words such as baffling, rarely, complication, and compounds.
  • Knowledge Demands
    No previous knowledge is required. The poem references a fictional stereotype that rabbits enjoy eating carrots.
Featured Skill: Elements of Poetry,
Other Key Skills: elements of poetry, author’s craft, main idea, supporting details, interpreting text, text features, cause and effect, explanatory writing
Standards
  • Common Core
    RL.3.1, RL.3.2, RL.3.3, RL.3.4, RL.3.7, RL.3.9, RL.4, W.3.2, SL.3.1, SL.3.2, L.3.4
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3a, 3b, 4, 6a, 6c, 6g, 6i, 7b, 7c, 7f, 7g, 9b, 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d, 12b

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Think & Read

ELEMENTS OF POETRY  As you read, think about the words the poet uses. Do you notice any words that rhyme or that create a certain feeling?

I've Turned Into a Carrot

I’ve turned into a carrot, it’s baffling and strange.

Somehow while I was sleeping, I underwent a change.

Last night I was a human, with head and hands and feet,

This morning I’m a vegetable I’ve rarely cared to eat.

I look into the mirror, and see I’m long and lean.

I have an orange body, my hair is leafy green.

A further complication compounds my current woe,

A rabbit is approaching . . . So long! I’ve got to go.

Poetry selection titled “I’ve Turned into a Carrot” from It’s Raining Pigs & Noodles by Jack Prelutsky; Illustrated By: James Stevenson

Text copyright ©2000 by Jack Prelutsky; Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

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Skill-Building Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. Skill Building

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading

  • Read the title of the poem along with the poet’s name. Ask students to describe the illustration and predict what the poem will be about. Review the predictions after reading the poem.

  • Explain that the poem contains one stanza of eight lines. The poem has an AABB rhyme scheme. This means that the last words of every two consecutive lines rhyme.

2. Reading and Discussing the Poem

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio Read-Aloud, or use Text-to-Speech.

  • Next ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading Questions.

Close-Reading Questions

  • Read the poem. Which words rhyme? The rhyming words in the poem are: strange and change, feet and eat, lean and green, and woe and go. (elements of poetry)
  • Look at the first four lines. What change does the speaker describe? During the night,the speaker changed from a human into a carrot. (main idea) 
  • In describing this change, the speaker says, “This morning I’m a vegetable I’ve rarely cared to eat.” How did reading this line make you feel? Answers will vary. Sample response: This line makes me feel happy because the idea of a human turning into a vegetable is very silly and funny. It’s extra funny because the human doesn’t even like carrots very much. (interpreting text) 
  • Look at the last four lines of the poem. How does the poet describe how the human’s appearance has changed? The human’s body now looks like a carrot. It is long, lean, and orange. The human’s hair is leafy green, like the leaves at the top of a carrot. (supporting details) 
  • What happens to the carrot in the last two lines of the poem? (Note: Explain to students that woe means “great trouble or misfortune.”) When the carrot sees a rabbit coming toward it, the carrot knows it is in danger. The carrot has to leave because the rabbit will want to eat it. (cause and effect)
  • Look at the illustration. Which part of the poem does this illustration show? The illustration shows a human who has turned into a carrot. The human looks shocked and scared. A rabbit is behind the carrot! The illustration shows the carrot in its human bedroom with a soccer ball. (text features)

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Elements of Poetry

Distribute or digitally assign our Elements of Poetry Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.

Text-to-Speech