Customer Reviews

Tops & Bottoms (Caldecott Honor Book)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Tops & Bottoms is well written, and the illustrations are an adventure in themselves. There are some excellent lessons in the story, but the book will not hold the attention of my active 4 and 6 year-old boys. I'll have to wait for them to grow up a little before they can appreciate Tops & Bottoms.

When I first picked up the charming, "Tops and Bottoms" picture book by Janet Stevens, I was initially certain that this was a kind of Brer Rabbit tale. It had all the markings of it. Animals in clothing tricking one another out of food of one sort or another. The hero was a hare and the villain a bear. But on reading this book I was in for a shock. A staple of the Brer Rabbit tales is the idea that sometimes luck and laziness go hand in hand. Brer Rabbit is forever tricking the other animals into doing his work for him rather than the other way around. But in "Tops and Bottoms" we have a very familiar message to contend with. Hard work pays off.

The book is drawn in a rather original format. Rather than holding the book with the spine horizontal, instead this tale can only be read with the spine completely vertical. Pictures are long here, rather than wide, and the result is an eclectic new way of telling a tale. It's enormously effective. In this story, a lazy bear owns most of the land. One day, Hare decides its time to buy some of his own land back. He strikes up a deal with the prematurely hibernating neighbor and the two become business partners. If Hare does all the work, Bear can chose the part of the crop he prefers. Either the tops or the bottoms. It soon becomes clear that Bear is no match for the sly hare. After all, when Bear chooses the tops, Hare plants carrots. When Bear understands his mistake he chooses bottoms and Hare plants lettuce and celery. And when Bear demands both the tops AND the bottoms, Hare plants corn and gets the middle. In the end, Bear learns the benefits of hard work (and staying on top of things) and Hare has enough money from the crops to own his own land again.

A word of caution: If you're using this book with the intention of utilizing it to teach youngsters about farming cycles, cease and desist. In the course of this tale, Hare harvests his crops three times over the summer months. His youngsters also weed the garden of unusually hardy dandelions each and every time Bear instructs Hare to plant again. Still, as complaints go this one's fairly petty. The story is funny and well written. Hare has a wonderful way of roping Bear into the deal, coming off with phrases like, "Yes, sir, Bear, we're in this together. I'll work and you sleep". Better still are the illustrations. From Bear's permanently loose tie and oversized shoes to Hare's gaudy carrot covered Hawaiian shirt, the characters here are alive and kicking. Stevens also has a great talent drawing vegetables. I've rarely seen the stems of radishes as wonderfully rendered as they are in this book. And best of all, Hare is aided and abetted by his hard working kin. Baby rabbits fill the pages, usually hiding over, under, above, and through every vegetable in the book. My favorite moment was the scene in which Hare presents the tops AND bottoms of the corn. There, in the lower left hand corner stands Mrs. Hare, studiously removing the roots of the plant to place in the "bottoms" pile.

In effect, Janet Stevens has taken the essence of the Brer Rabbit tales and switched the message about 180 degrees. And you know what? It doesn't matter. Because Hare still gets the best of Bear and the story is a well-told romp. Add in the gorgeous pictures and the amazing format and you've got yourself a bonafide hit. As great read aloud books go, this is definitely one of the best. A highly recommended story time favorite.

The characters are amazing... and amazingly easy to impersonate.
My children love when I give each of the main characters (bear and rabbit) a different voice. The story is really about entrepreneurship, but the little ones only need to know the difference between a root vegetable and a leaf vegetable. Anyway, my kids cannot look at a corn field now without saying "Tops or Bottoms"? And that to me is the best compliment given to a book.

It seems Mr. Rabbit is in a bit of a fix. After losing that race to Turtle, he's in a bit of a financial jam. So, he goes to Bear and makes a deal.

The Rabbit family will plant and harvest the crops on Bear's land. Rabbit will split the crops with Bear 50/50. All Bear has to do is decide which half - tops or bottoms - he wants.

Unfortunately, whether the crop is potatoes, lettuce, corn, or radishes, Bear keeps picking the "wrong half".

This is a hillarious story that kids of all ages will appreciate. For visual interest, the book is designed to flip from top to bottom (as opposed from left to right).

Janet Stevens' artwork alone is worth the cost of the book!

Enjoy!

This is a delightful book. I just finished sharing the book with my two-year old. She loved looking at the funny positions of the bear. She also liked finding the bunnies on the pages. I also teach 3rd grade. I found that this book will be quite helpful in our science discussion about plant parts (and the parts of the plant that are consumed).

My granddaughter and I really enjoyed the book. At 5, it was an excellent teaching regarding how different vegetables grow AND it also showed that hard work pays off for the rabbit.

I enjoyed reading this and looking at the pictures as much as a child. To me, that's a real hit when you have both the child and adult looking forward to the reading.

Mr. Rabbit, sore from his loss in that race with Mr. Turtle, is a bit down on his luck. So, he strikes a bargain with Mr. Bear.

The rabbit family will plant and harvest crops on Mr. Bear's land and split the proceeds 50/50.

"Tops or bottoms," Mr. Rabbit asks.

Whether the crop is corn, potatoes, or lettuce - Mr. Bear just doesn't seem to "pick" the right half.

This is a great story - for everyone!!

Janet Stevens' illustrations tell a story all their own. Simply wonderful!

The book opens top to bottom (instead of left to right) to re-inforce the idea of "tops and bottoms".

I definitely reccomend this book - it's a true winner!!

I used Tops and Bottoms to teach economics to my twenty kindergartners. The story is packed with economic concepts such as scarcity, producers, consumers, productive resources - land, labor, capital, goods, products, entrepreneurs,etc. We had a wonderful time applying economics to this literature, and transferring it to our experiences. Parents, this is a great book to use at home to teach life skills, such as responsibility!

Bear is a very wealthy animal that is undeserving of his good fortune and Hare is a struggling husband/father trying to feed his family. When Hare and his wife come up with a clever plan for food, Hare decides to try it. Might I mention that Bear owns land that is very good for a vegetable garden.

"We can be business partners!" Hare says. "All we need is this field right here in front of your house. I'll do the work of planting and harvesting, and we can split the profit down the middle." Hare says soon afterwards, "So what will it be, Bear?" "The top half or the bottom half?" Hare doesn't mention what crops he will grow to bear, because, of course, he will plant veggies that bear fruit(or, well...vegetables) underground. Carrots, radishes, etc.

The next growing season, Bear will naturally choose the bottoms, but-again-he doesn't demand a certain vegetable to plant, so Hare plants vegetables like cabbage that grow above ground.

Finally Bear gets smart-or at least he thinks he is-and demands to have both the tops and bottoms of the crops; Hare agrees? Why would Hare agree to letting Bear have all the crop?

Janet Stevens has created a book thats screams SOUTHERN! Hare could possibly be the smartest rabbit since Bugs Bunny. What I'm wondering was why Hare didn't take advantage of his neighbor sooner? If only there were more books like this one.

R