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Tops and Bottoms
Hare solves his family’s problems by tricking rich and lazy Bear in this funny, energetic version of an old slave story. With roots in American slave tales, Tops & Bottoms celebrates the trickster tradition of using one’s wits to overcome hardship. “As usual, Stevens’ animal characters, bold and colorful, are delightful. . . . It’s all wonderful fun, and the book opens
...moreHardcover, 0 pages
Published
July 1st 1995
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
(first published March 29th 1995)
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Hare and his family are hungry. You see, Hare lost all his land in a bad bet with tortoise (haha, get it?) Bear sleeps all day on the front porch of his house, presiding over his large front yard. Hare decides to strike up a business deal with Bear. Hare will farm the land and give Bear half the veggies. "Which half do you want, tops or bottoms?" asks Hare. "Tops!" Bear declares, before promptly falling back asleep. And he sleeps all through the work of planting and harvesting the crops. When th...more
Feb 03, 2009
Barbara
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
children studying where food comes from.
Recommended to Barbara by:
A first grade teacher.
This is a clever book adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens. It suggests what happened to the hare after his famous race with the tortoise. This time he is the neighbor of a rich, lazy bear with lots of land. The hare and his family are poor, so they hatch a plan to take advantage of Bear's laziness and land. Hare wakes up bear and proposes a partnership. He and his family will plant and harvest a crop while bear sleeps. They will give Bear all the tops and they will keep the bottoms. So Bear...more
So do you like tops or bottoms better? Hare is smart but he has had some problems with his money and now his family is hungry. Sleepy, lazy old bear thinks he is the smartest of the two, when hare wants to plant the field in front of bear’s house. So when Bear says tops, Hare plants crops that produce their vegetation under the ground. While Bear sleeps, Hare waters and weeds around the seeds and helps the plants grow. When they are grown, he tears the tops off and throws them in a pile for Bear...more
Reading Level: 3.8 (Lexile: 650L)
Interest Level: PreK-2
Genre: Fables, Folk Tales, Traditional Literature
Main Characters: Bear and Hare
Setting: Bear's front yard
POV: Narrator
This story is about a lazy, but rich Bear. Hare is his neighbor but lost all of this land in a bet with a tortoise. Hare has many children to feed and decides to trick this lazy rich Bear. He tells Bear that he can sleep all season while Hare plants in his yard. Hare will give Bear half of the profit. Before Hare plants for t...more
Interest Level: PreK-2
Genre: Fables, Folk Tales, Traditional Literature
Main Characters: Bear and Hare
Setting: Bear's front yard
POV: Narrator
This story is about a lazy, but rich Bear. Hare is his neighbor but lost all of this land in a bet with a tortoise. Hare has many children to feed and decides to trick this lazy rich Bear. He tells Bear that he can sleep all season while Hare plants in his yard. Hare will give Bear half of the profit. Before Hare plants for t...more
Based on trickster folktales, this story features a clever hare and a very lazy bear. Bear is rich and owns a great deal of land, but all he wants to do was sleep. His land is barren year after year. On the other hand, Hare has a very large family and no way to feed them. So Hare makes Bear a deal: If Bear let's Hare and his family use his land they will do all the planting, tending, and harvesting and Hare will split the harvest with Bear. Hare let’s Bear choose: tops or bottoms of the vegetabl...more
Genre: Traditional
Summary: A hare came up with a plan to save his family from hunger and makes a deal with this neighbor the bear, who was wealthy but lazy. Hare agreed to plant and maintain crops for the bear and they would split the profits evenly. When the crops were harvested, bear realized he had been tricked by hare who separated the tops from the bottoms of the crops and eventually the bear learned to plant his own crops and hare made enough money on bear's crops to plant his own.
Critiqu...more
Summary: A hare came up with a plan to save his family from hunger and makes a deal with this neighbor the bear, who was wealthy but lazy. Hare agreed to plant and maintain crops for the bear and they would split the profits evenly. When the crops were harvested, bear realized he had been tricked by hare who separated the tops from the bottoms of the crops and eventually the bear learned to plant his own crops and hare made enough money on bear's crops to plant his own.
Critiqu...more
Tops and Bottoms is adapted and illustrated by Janet Stevens. It is a delightful tale that tells what happened to a Hare and his family after he lost it all on a ‘risky bet with a tortoise.’ This extension of story places it into the category of traditional literature.
A Caldecott Honor book, Tops and Bottoms details the misfortune of a very lazy bear who owns a lot of land. All he wants to do is sleep, so when Hare offers to farm his land in exchange for half of the crops, Bear is quick to agree...more
A Caldecott Honor book, Tops and Bottoms details the misfortune of a very lazy bear who owns a lot of land. All he wants to do is sleep, so when Hare offers to farm his land in exchange for half of the crops, Bear is quick to agree...more
Oct 05, 2009
Shanna Gonzalez
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-04-08
This tale is derived from European folktales and slave stories of the American South. In it, the industrious but unscrupulous Hare is pitted against the profoundly lazy Bear. Hare proposes that he and his family work Bear's land (some of which which had originally been his) in exchange for half of the crops produced, and Bear may have first choice of whether he gets the tops or bottoms of the crops. Bear agrees, chooses tops, and goes to sleep on the porch of his falling-apart house while Hare p...more
1.This is a traditional picture book.
2.This Caldecott Honor Book pairs two familiar characters in a very different situation. Hare, a hard-working but unlucky rabbit, uses Bear, who is rich but lazy, to his advantage come harvest time. Hare definitely uses his knowledge about food when it matters most and his family depends on it but when Bear finally catches on, it’s too late.
3.A. Janet Stevens’ traditional tale is pulled from times of hardship and slavery and does a phenomenal job of relating...more
2.This Caldecott Honor Book pairs two familiar characters in a very different situation. Hare, a hard-working but unlucky rabbit, uses Bear, who is rich but lazy, to his advantage come harvest time. Hare definitely uses his knowledge about food when it matters most and his family depends on it but when Bear finally catches on, it’s too late.
3.A. Janet Stevens’ traditional tale is pulled from times of hardship and slavery and does a phenomenal job of relating...more
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"Tops and Bottoms" is a Caldecott Honor Book written and illustrated beautifully by Janet Stevens and it is about how Hare tries to outwit Bear, who is very rich, by convincing Bear to get the tops and bottom halves of every vegetable they grew in Bear's garden.
This book is clearly a clever retelling of the classic "Brer Rabbit" tales from the American South as Hare cleverly outwits Bear by first letting Bear take the top halves of the carrots when he tells Hare he wants the tops and Hare gives...more
This book is clearly a clever retelling of the classic "Brer Rabbit" tales from the American South as Hare cleverly outwits Bear by first letting Bear take the top halves of the carrots when he tells Hare he wants the tops and Hare gives...more
This trickster tale reminded me of the West African Anansi stories and Brer Rabbit. In this story, Hare is the tricky fellow who needs to find food for his growing family. He has lost his farm to Bear's father, but plans to get it back from Bear, as he is lazy. Hare offers to plant crops for Bear and split them 50/50, but he fudges a bit. He takes only the bottoms of root vegetables, then the tops of above ground veggies, then the middle of corn stalk. Therefore giving him all the produce and Be...more
Love, love, love this book. Throughout the book you root for Hare and wonder what he will do next in order to trick Mr. Bear. The illustrations are very well done. The story line teaches about different types of vegetables as well as defines the under lying theme of: hard work really pays off in the end. If children are familiar with teh tortoise and the hare, they will probably pick up on and feel proud about understanding the reference in the beginning of the story about loosing a race to the...more
Nice, big illustrations oriented so the reader holds the book sideways. Rabbit family tricks lazy bear so that each bear allows them to plant crops on bear's land, but each harvest the rabbits get the food. The first time, the rabbits plant root vegetables, so that they get the good bottoms and bears gets the inedible tops. The next time, the rabbits get the good tops (lettuce, broccoli, celery) and bears gets the bottoms. Finally bears says he wants the tops and bottoms. The rabbits plant corn,...more
Very funny book, based on an old folk tale. Bear has land, but he is very lazy and never does anything with it. A family of rabbits makes an agreement with him to plant on his land - they will do all the work, and he gets the tops of the plants and they get the bottoms. He agrees, but is unhappy when they harvest things like carrots, so the tops are useless. They make another agreement that he'll get the bottoms, and they get the tops. Of course, that doesn't quite work out either. The illustrat...more
The story very succinctly and clearly conveys the message of hard work paying off while laziness will get you nowhere. The illustrations are beautiful. Stevens plainly shows the reader the parts of the plants – the roots and the leaves. Her illustrations of the Bear and the Hare family are beautiful. The Bear lies draped over his porch chair lazily sleeping his life away while Hare works hard in the garden. The contrast is so visible. The students will even learn a little bit about vegetables. T...more
Janet Stevens introduces us to a rabbit who is always tricking the other animals into doing his work for him and a very lazy bear. Both engaging and creative, Stevens loads this picture book with economic concepts, and life lessons about responsibility and hard work. This book is a must for both teachers and parents that are looking to instill values and moral character into their young students. The book’s design to flip from top to bottom (as opposed from left to right) is both refreshing and...more
Another great book! This is one I read as a little kid, but I had forgotten all about it. It has a great life lesson, teaching children that they have to be willing to work for the things they want, they can't just expect other people to do their work for them. The story involves a big bear and a family of hares who live on a farm and grow crops. I liked how the author used personification and made them animals appear like they were real people by doing the exact same things humans do. The pictu...more
Jun 18, 2012
Elizabeth
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
5360-summer-12,
caldecott
The Hare and his family are poor and hungry. So,the Hare makes a deal with the lazy bear. He will do the planting and the harvesting of the bear's land and they will split the profits. After each harvest Hare has tricked Bear so that Hare gets the vegetables and Bear gets nothing. Finally, after the third time Bear decides to do his own planting and harvesting. Hare and his family are no longer poor from the profits they made from tricking Bear. I loved this book. It was fun to try and guess wha...more
Tops & Bottoms is a humorous trickster tale based in European folktales and slave stories from the American South. The hare uses his wit to outsmart the lazy bear and maximize his profits during the cropping season. The trick is in whether the hare or the bear will collect either the “tops” or “bottoms” of crops. Of course, the sleeping bear is unaware of the crops being planted and always manages to get the useless parts of the produce. Janet Stevens’ text and illustrations are balanced wel...more
Tops and Bottoms was a precious and funny picture book that children would absolutely love! I could not help but laugh as I read the book when Bear and Hare argued over the crops. This book is very entertaining for, and I know that students would love it. In my classroom, I would use this book with my students to teach them about being fair and sharing. I believe that this book would be a great way to introduce and discuss these topics with my future students. I love this book and plan on using...more
I thought this book was so cute I love how it started out with the rabbit losing a bet the tortoise, because of the whole slow and steady wins the race! The artwork in this book is very nicely done and appealing as well!
Summary:
Hare loses his land because he lost a bet with a tortoise, so he makes a deal with bear. The deal is that if Bear lets Hare use his land that he will give bear half of the veggies. Bear agrees so Hare asks if he wants the tops or bottoms and Bear says he wants the tops....more
Summary:
Hare loses his land because he lost a bet with a tortoise, so he makes a deal with bear. The deal is that if Bear lets Hare use his land that he will give bear half of the veggies. Bear agrees so Hare asks if he wants the tops or bottoms and Bear says he wants the tops....more
Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens is a great adaption of European folktales & slave stories of the American South, including the Brer Rabbit tales. Hare uses his wits, in the trickster tradition, to overcome hardhip & profit from the lazy ways of his neighbor, Bear, who owns lots of land.
Rabbit proposes a partnership, with Bear where Hare's family will plant and harvest a crop while Bear sleeps. Their first agreement is to give Bear all the tops while the Hares keep the bottoms. So Ha...more
Rabbit proposes a partnership, with Bear where Hare's family will plant and harvest a crop while Bear sleeps. Their first agreement is to give Bear all the tops while the Hares keep the bottoms. So Ha...more
1 like · like · see review
PB:28 Tops & Bottoms. This won the Caldecott Honor and I think it's ridiculous it did not win the Medal. However, I think this is one of the greatest picturebooks out there. It teaches children at such an early age that hard work pays off and that laziness never does any good. If you want something in life, you msut work for it and be determined in doing so. The bear simply got tricked in his own mind because the rabbit knew what he was doing. It was so cool to the book like flipping through...more
Hare tricks Bear into becoming business partners so that he can feed his family. Hare does all the work planting, watering and weeding the plants and lets Bear choose whether he wants the tops or the bottoms because Hare is using Bear's land. Each time Hare fools Bear and takes the best part of each harvest for himself. Funny story with cute artwork (I love the expressions the animals make). Good read aloud, though holding the book is a bit awkward as it is held up and down (vertically) as oppos...more
I liked this book for a couple of reasons. The first reason it teacher non gardening childeen about vegetables and explains if we eat the tops or the bottoms. I always explain the bottoms are tge roots. And the top are the part that are out of the ground. The second reason I like this is because it demonstrates that smaller doesn't have to always allow bigger to win. The rabbit outwitted the bear. It is a great book. My son and I always read it before we plant our little gardwn.
Typically we've used this in the classroom when studying gardening, fruits, and vegetables (particularly root vegetables) with the children. On occasion we have also connected it to other trickster tales, but I would be interested to read it alongside other version of the slave story, particularly with slightly older students (I work primarily with 4 and 5 year olds). I think the comparison process could lead to some very rich conversations.
This caldecott honor book is a great trickster tale. References allude to the Tortoise and the Hare fable, but in this tale, rabbit tricks the lazy bear into letting him farm Bear's land, offering him the tops of everything they grow, and the rabbits will take the bottoms. The rabbits, grow carrots, beets, and radishes. The story continues in much the same way, with Bear trying to figure out how he got tricked again, and again.
Mar 19, 2013
Mckenzie Quade
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children-s-literature,
picture-books
This was such a cute book! The message was great for kids: you have to work for what you want. Things don't just get handed to you. Young children would get a kick out of this book and I can picture them laughing at the plot. The book also had to be held the long way, as the binding was in the middle of the page horizontally. It would be hard to hold for a read-aloud but would work better for reading to a small group.
Besides the absolutely horrible title (seriously? Just do a goodreads search for this book, and you will know what I mean...) this was a great read.
My kindergarten son brought this home in his "gardening" literacy bag, and he enjoyed reading the book and thought the way that Hare tricked Bear was really funny.
I thought it was a bit cruel at times, but obviously my six year old didn't pick up on that.
My kindergarten son brought this home in his "gardening" literacy bag, and he enjoyed reading the book and thought the way that Hare tricked Bear was really funny.
I thought it was a bit cruel at times, but obviously my six year old didn't pick up on that.
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Janet Stevens is a children's books illustrator and author.
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Jan 10, 2012 10:03am
Thanks, Ann! I'd be curious what you think, if you read it. It seemed clear to me that Bear owned the land, but maybe o...more
Jan 10, 2012 10:31am
Jan 10, 2012 12:18pm