Leo never thought she’d need to protect her dad’s special carrot seeds from spies, but she’s made it her mission to defend her family’s farm!

Key Selling Points:

• Leonie is a relatable middle-schooler dealing with friendships/acne/the weight of chores.
• A realistic farm setting with accurate science and fascinating facts about carrots!
• A unique mystery adventure, with the intrigue of spies and drones. Young readers will be able to imagine themselves on a romp across farm fields at night with Leonie.
• Leo's unique perspective as a farm kid will be relatable to some and novel to others. Kids will empathize with her struggle against her family's traditional gender roles, chafing as she does to be allowed to ride her brother's old dirt bike, which she is repairing herself in secret.
• For the past twenty years, author Madeleine Hart has been a writer in the video game industry, having worked on titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs and Prince of Persia. Year of the Carrot is her debut middle-grade novel.
• International Carrot Day is April 4, and the book refers to carrot festivals and parades around the world, including Bradford, Ontario’s “World’s Greatest Carrot Festival”!

Leonie MacGregor is sick of carrots. Who wouldn’t be if you grew up on a carrot farm? But Leo’s dad is obsessed with them. He breeds carrots the way some people breed prized poodles.

A series of events leads Leo to suspect someone is after her dad’s one-of-a-kind carrot seeds. With the help of her best friend Sara, Leo begins to narrow down the suspects. Is it their organic farmer neighbor who everyone calls “the Hippie”? Or maybe spies sent by the government who think her dad’s special carrots might really be worth something!

Even though Leo has lots of things to do on the farm—like fixing her super awesome dirt bike—it’s up to her to save her dad’s carrots!