Tops and Bottoms

by Janet Stevens

Hare turns his bad luck around by striking a clever deal with the rich and lazy bear down the road.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Folklore, Fiction, Gardening, Folk Tales

Hardcover

First published March 29, 1995

About the author

Janet Stevens began drawing as a child. Pictures decorated her walls, mirrors, furniture and school work -- including math assignments. While this didn't always sit well with her teachers, it was what she loved to do.

Janet’s father was in the Navy therefore she moved a great deal and attended many schools while growing up.

After graduating from high school in Hawaii in 1971 she landed a job creating Hawaiian designs for fabric. The printed fabric was then made into aloha shirts and muumuus. After she graduated from the University of Colorado in 1975 with a degree in Fine Arts Janet began compiling a portfolio of “characters”, bears in tutus, rhinos in sneakers, and walruses in Hawaiian shirts. In 1977, she attended “The Illustrator's Workshop” in New York City, where it was suggested that her characters might find a home in a children's book. Luckily for libraries (and children's book readers in general), publishers agreed and her first book was published in 1979.

Janet is the author and illustrator of many original stories and frequently collaborates with her sister, Susan Stevens Crummel. Her trademark humorous animals also accompany the texts by such authors as Eric Kimmel and Coleen Salley,

Janet has received numerous book awards, including a Caldecott Honor Award, Time Magazine’s Ten Best Children’s Books , the Wanda Gág Best Read-Aloud Book. Child Magazine’s Best Books of the Year.. Janet's books have been named ALA Notables and have repeatedly appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List.

She is particularly proud of her state book awards, voted on by children -- which include Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Nebraska and Washington. Janet has received the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Award twice.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hare’s are very smart. This fable is saying, don’t sleep through harvest; you have to work to reap anything. Here’s the part that isn’t really fair. Hare made a bad investment with rabbit and he had to sell off his land to bear so he could pay off the debt to rabbit. So that is all his fault. Does that mean it’s now ok to trick bear who simply bought the land? Anyway, that’s not the story.

Bear’s father worked hard, but now bear just sleeps. He sleeps through the growing season. One day Hare comes over and makes a deal. He’ll do the planting and split the crop ‘tops and bottoms’. Bears calls tops, so Hare plants carrots and beets and tubers. So bear only gets the tops of those things and rabbit gets the most vegetables. Bear is upset and he next wants the bottoms. Hare agrees and he plants lettuce and all kinds of good vegetables. Bear is left with the roots and Hare, again, gets most of the good vegetables. Next Bear wants a new crop and he gets the tops and bottoms. Hare agrees and plants corn. Hare keeps the middle and bears again loses out.

I guess it’s best not to let someone else do your work for you, huh.

The book is printed sideways so you open it like a calendar and we can see the bottoms of the veggies and the tops split in the middle. The artwork is lovely and the Hare and his family are amusing. They work hard and smart. I’m told that is what we want to do is work smart.

I have to admit this title cracks me up. It could be a whole different story seen through an adult lens, but I like the story told.

The kids loved this story. Every time they would crack up at rabbit getting the best of bear. I felt just a little sorry for bear. I know he’s lazy but that’s no reason to take advantage of him. Anyway, the kids laughed at this story. The niece loved how smart the Hare was. She gave this 4 stars. The nephew also gave this 4 stars. He thought this was a funny story.

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I most definitely enjoyed Janet Stevens' Tops & Bottoms (and do understand why and how it won a Caldecott Honour designation), on a purely personal level, I actually find the illustrations a bit too brash, bold and in-your-face for my own tastes (and having to turn the book on its side, really rather majorly annoyed me at first). That being said, I can appreciate that this cumulative and often slyly humorous folktale adaptation will likely be a hit with most youngsters, and that the illustrations truly both compliment and complement the narrative (text and image certainly work exceedingly well together).

Tops & Bottoms rather strongly reminds me of the numerous European folktales where a usually male peasant or farmer trickster like personage makes a deal with the Devil (or some other kind of an evil demonic entity) to share his crops (and of course, wins against the same, always picking the choicest parts of the harvest, leaving the Devil with the chaff so to speak). With that fact in mind, I think that for me, the biggest and most troublesome issue with this otherwise excellent offering is the absence of a detailed author's note showing the story's origins and which specific tale or combination of tales the author used for her adaptation. I would certainly be interested knowing whether Janet Stevens had adapted her narrative from one of the "outsmarting the Devil folktales" with which I am familiar, and whether the original tale or tales she used as a source, feature animal trickster characters (like Tops & Bottoms itself does). I guess the absence of an author's note is not all that essential for the enjoyment of the story itself, but I think it would have been a helpful addition, as I always tend to think that if you are going to be adapting a folk or fairy tale, you really ought to be providing information as to its origin, genesis, history and the like. And considering I have now discovered that Tope & Bottoms is actually considered to be an adaptation of an African American folktale, this makes the lack of an author's note even more of a potential issue for me, as it would have most definitely increased the folkloric value to have been able to compare and contrast different types of tops and bottoms like tales (the European outsmarting the Devil ones with those that deal mostly with animal tricksters and are perceived as being primarily African in origin).

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Neo’s garden beginning to bloom, I thought this would be a wonderful story to share with him. Bear is a lazy and very sleepy animal, rich from his family inheritance. Hare is poor with a large brood and nothing to feed them. Hare and his wife devise a plan to work with their neighbour and his plentiful fields. Hare approaches Bear to offer up a deal and ensure they both profit from planing vegetables. After Hare and his family do the planting, watering, and weeding he will cultivate the crops and offer some to Bear and others to himself. Bear agrees to take the tops, leaving Hare the bottoms. The first season proves fruitful, but Hare ends up benefitting greatly. Not wanting to be tricked again, Bear takes the bottoms the second time around, only to be led into another trap. Will Bear fall for a trick when the third planting season comes to pass? Have a read and find out. Neo has been happy to see some of his vegetables growing so well over the past few weeks and looks forward to more bounty in the coming weeks. He got a kick out of how Hare was able to turn the tables on Bear, but hopes that our gardening agreement does not yield the same trickery.

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading many stories that were inspired by Uncle Remus’ “Brer Rabbit” stories for many years, but I have never come across a story quite like this one! “Tops and Bottoms” is a Caldecott Honor Book that is written and illustrated beautifully by Janet Stevens and it is a trickster tale that is inspired by many European folktales and African-American folktales of the South that deal with the subject of a trickster character teaching their rivals a lesson in hard work and determination!

In this tale, Bear was rich as he has lots of land due to inheriting it from his father. Unfortunately, Bear was extremely lazy and he would spend his days sleeping away on the porch of his house. His neighbor Hare however, was poor as he was forced to give up his land due to losing a bet to Tortoise and he and his family were in an extremely poor state. It was then that Hare and his wife, Mrs. Hare decided to come up with a plan to take some of Bear’s wealth to make their lives easier. So, Hare decided to propose to Bear to become business partners and Hare will plant the harvest for each season, while Bear can take a nap during the harvesting. All that Hare asks for in return is for Bear to choose which side he wants from the vegetables he grows in the garden: the tops or the bottoms?

Will Hare and his family outwit Bear?

Read this book to find out!

Once again, Janet Stevens had created another book that really got my folktale senses tingling! I loved the way that Janet Stevens based this story on the classic “Brer Rabbit” stories as Hare is shown getting what he wants by tricking Bear out of his crop by using his wits, which is extremely prevalent in the “Brer Rabbit” stories. I really enjoyed the tone of this book as it is lighthearted and clever and I thought it was hilarious when Hare and his family tricked Bear out of his crop as it also teaches readers that being lazy all the time will not help you succeed in life. Janet Stevens’ illustrations as usual are beautifully done as the characters look gorgeous, especially the images of Bear and Hare as they look shaggy yet realistic. I also loved the fact that this book is set up as being read from literally “top to bottom” as it really fits the title of this story!

Overall, “Tops and Bottoms” is a truly brilliant book for anyone who is a huge fan of folktales that deal with characters who are tricksters and it would be a great treat for children and adults everywhere! I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since the book is pretty easy for younger children to read (unless they get confused about reading the book from top to bottom).

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 the time comes to receive the rewards, Hare gives him the top half of the veggies--the tops of carrots, potatoes, etc. -- that is, the crummy half. And so it goes with other veggies as Bear changes his mind to want the bottoms, then the middles, always getting burned by clever Hare.

Now, I think the lesson here is supposed to be that being lazy and not working your fair share is a bad thing, and that hard work and cleverness should be rewarded. And I don't have a problem with that! I have enjoyed such tales as "The Little Red Hen" or "The Grasshopper and the Ant" for just such a reason. I think they teach an important lesson.

My problem with this particular story is that Bear DID contribute something to the deal. He gave his land. Granted, he was not using it for anything else. But, it was HIS land. Hare had no land because he was stupid and wagered it in a bet with Tortoise (not very responsible, if you ask me!) So, Bear gave something to the deal and deserved to receive some compensation for it, in my opinion.

The story is creative, the illustrations and format engaging, and I do see I am in the minority in finding something troublesome in the story. I don't mean to imply that other readers are wrong in finding merit in the book (indeed, as I said, I think the surface message is a good one), and I know Hare is supposed to be a trickster figure so perhaps one could emphasize that fact with children and show how perhaps it wasn't really fair of him to trick Bear like he did.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 well in quality, talent, and detail.

This book could be used to discuss partnerships, pointing out all the ways in which bear and hare’s partnership is flawed. It could also be used to introduce vegetables, farming, or to highlight the characteristics of trickster tales.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute trickster tale with wonderful Caldecott Honor illustrations by the author.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 2014: I have loved this book since I first read it, while I was in college, probably a year or two after it was published. At the time, the orientation of the book seemed quite unique and I loved (and still love) that the illustrations for the book were created on paper made from vegetables. While I think the story is good, a fun trickster type tale, the illustrations are the best. Despite loving this book (and having read it to my students), I had apparently never read it to my own children until this past week. They really loved how clever Hare was...although we all kind of felt like the third time, when he promised the Bear the tops and bottoms, that he could have and should have planted some vegetables that grew on the top or bottom...so bear could have at least SOME vegetables. That would have been more kind and fair, they said.

Reread November 2016: A few more thoughts I had as I read this again today. First, I was really struck by the beginning which said that Bear's father had been a hard worker and a smart business bear and had given all his wealth to his son. But bear just wanted to sleep. I've spent most of my teaching career working with children in poverty (17 years) but the past two years I have been at a school where many of the students come from privileged, even wealthy backgrounds and some (certainly not all, not even most...but some) are very entitled. Much like bear. These children need to learn to work and be responsible..and it can be challenging to help them develop a work ethic and take responsibility.

Because bear was lazy and entitled and Hare's family was destitute (due to Hare's poor decision making/gambling), it reminded me a bit of a Robin Hood tale. Not entirely but at least some element of the poor deserving the riches...particularly since Hare and his family worked the land...and bear was a poor caretaker of his land...He never once woke up to supervise or made any agreement about what would be grown or anything. Perhaps Hare even sort of learned his lesson now that he is working so hard (although he clearly still makes agreements that border on bets.)

[Marta Buryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious book about a bear and a rabbit tangled in a farm business. From the very first page, the story surprises the readers with the professional, business-related words and phrases, for instance "a smart business bear," which sound incredibly funny when used in relation to the typical fairy-tale characters, such as a bear, a rabbit, or even a tortoise.

The layout of the book is really well-done. First of all, I liked the correspondence between the the vertical pattern of the book and its title. I also enjoyed the fact that the text is placed in bright frames which makes it easy to read. The only cases in which the text is not framed are the scenes of waking the bear up. These are also the only scenes when the pictures are framed, which highlights the recurrent nature of these situations and in a way distinguishes them from the rest of the plot.

As far as the illustrations are concerned, there is no negative space in the book and the pictures frequently reach beyond the boundaries of particular pages. Brown, sandy, yellow and beige are the dominating colours, that constitute a monolithic canva on which other colours, such as green, orange, red and white pop out. All these colours can be associated with soil, farm, and crops-growing, which again constitutes a well-designed correspondence between the colour palette and the plot.
Although the illustrations occured quite simple to me at the first sign, they surprised me with details afer a thorough examination. For instance, I really loved the carrot-print on the rabbit's T-shirt and the bee-print on the bear's scarf. I also liked the distribution of particular characters on the pages that was a reflection of the plot: after the bear has chosen to get the top parts of the vegetables, he appeared on the top page, after he has chosen the bottom ones, he appeared on the bottom page.

What also seemed particularly appealing to me in Tops & Bottoms is the fact that this story has a moral: remember everyone, do not sleep during the working time, or a shrewd entrepreneur rabbit might trick you!

[Shanna Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 plants root vegetables. At harvest time, when he receives only inedible leaves, Bear chooses bottoms for the following year, then sleeps through Hare's planting of broccoli, tomatoes, and other surface-growing vegetables. Roaring in fury at being tricked again, he demands a year of tops and bottoms -- and Hare obliges with a corn crop, leaving Bear the tassels and stalks but keeping the corn cobs in the middle.

Trickster stories are moral tales, but not the kind in which a hero sets a good example. There is no hero in this story -- rather, the lazy bear provides an example of how not to act, since his laziness makes him vulnerable to being cheated. He provides an excellent illustration for Proverbs 25:28, which states that a person without self-control is "like a city whose [defensive:] walls are broken down." The simple, repetitive humor is all at the foolish Bear's expense, but after the third transaction he learns his lesson. From then on he farms his own land outside his well-maintained house), and never enters into another business deal with Hare.

There aren't many funny books for children about the dangers of laziness, and this one is a keeper. The story is brilliantly illustrated with lively, detailed paintings that carry the story, and and rather than reading from left to right it opens vertically to be read from top to bottom. This feature complements the story theme, but does take a little getting used to for reading aloud.

[Dominik · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many picture books which are funny, educative, and visually attractive at the same time. "Tops & Bottoms" by Janet Stevens is one of such books.

The story is strong criticism of feudal system, which is presented in the book. There is Bear, who owns land, and Hare, who doesn't have land, but who is willing to work. In return for the work, he has a right to take half of the crop. However, as we could see, Hare is a born business person and he is the one who makes profits from the land. The book teaches a kid that he or she should trust nobody and that he or she should rely on hard work rather than hollow promises of other people. And that laziness is bad.

The vertical layout of the books is a very interesting idea. A child may see that books don't have to be prepared in a traditional way. I admire all the illustrations which are very complex and detailed - for example, there are bees on Bear's scarf, his house is a shack which is to fall apart in a minute, and we see that he's too lazy to tie his laces up. As for the story, the book is not overloaded with text. There are many dialogues, thanks to which the plot is easy to follow for kids.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic 'trickster' fable type of story with an interesting "top and bottom" book format. It made the book a bit cumbersome to read, but we still had a lot fun reading it. The illustrations are very fun and expressive; our girls really enjoyed reading this book.

This book was selected as one of the books for the May 2014 - Gardening discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

This book was also selected as one of the books for the November 2016- Caldecott Honor discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

[Linda Lipko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bear inherited a lot of money and property from his hard-working parents. He is lazy and lives in a house where the porch is sagging the the shutters are crooked from weather conditions. One of the members of the rabbit family gambled his land away to the turtle who then sold it to the bear or a profit.

Destitute, the rabbits originally had no way to cultivate their food. Rabbits made deal with lazy bear that they would cultivate the front part of the the house and save the produce to the bear; They cultivated the back plot and the full crop would be theirs.

Purposely taking care of their plot, the bear complained that the top part did not yeild as much.

The next year, the land distribution was changed to a switch of top and bottom portions.

The rabbits carefully cultivated the middle portion to best.

Thereater, the bear was no longer lazy. He planted out in the hot sun, and pulled weeds all summer time.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This works as a read aloud. My students always enjoy it but I find it cumbersome to try to hold the book. It works better with older students because the language is more mature and plot it takes awhile to unfold.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

1996 Caldecott Honor

This book was too cute and fun because it has a vertical layout...and of course, there's a moral to the story. Great for this year's Dig into reading theme.

read for The Butler
read for garden gang #1

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that stands the test of time. I read it to my class when I first started out teaching at age 23 and now that I'm a library teacher I need to use it to teach students about the Caldecott medal.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic page formatting -- our students say they think this book was the first instance of #teambear vs. #teamrabbit, and I have to agree with them!

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same story as The Best of the Bargain, which comes from Poland.

[Lauren H]

it was funny and i do recommend it

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute modern fable. Educational too!

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful childrens picture book -- for Junior Master Gardeners.

[Jason Dillingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a shame that this title hasn’t aged well, but it’s a cute story overall. The same rabbit that lost the race to the tortoise and had to sell his land to a bear ends up cleverly/sneakily tricking Bear to buy some of the land back so he can provide for his fam.

The main lesson is that if you don’t put any effort into work, contracts, or others, you can get tricked and swindled. The potential lesson is to be skeptical of others. 😅

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures.

[Natascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book level: 3.2
Lextile: 580
Fountas and Pinnell: L

Book summary: This is a tale of a partnership between a lazy bear and an enterprising hare. Hare will do whatever he can to make sure his family is taken care of while bear's laziness may mean that he gets the short end of the deal.

Genre: Traditional literature. These tales are typically created to teach the reader a lesson through the events and characters included in the story. The interactions between bear and hare and what results from both of their work ethics is the core of this book's lesson.

Mentor writing traits:
Ideas - there is a clear message in this text of if you work hard and are clever, you will reap the benefits of all your hard work. If you are lazy, you won't get much. Hare clearly benefits from all the hard work that he puts into the garden. He is also very clever and does take advantage of bear's laziness. Bear's laziness leads to him getting the worse end of their partnership but he eventually learns that hard work=great benefits.

Presentation - the way the pages are set up (vertically versus horizontally) is done on purpose and matches the title of the book 'Tops and bottoms' and associates nice with a major setting in the story a garden. The pages that feature illustrations of both the bear and the hare, the bear always appears on the top page and the hare is on the bottom page. Again, I think this is done on purpose and reflects the initial agreement in this partnership that bear gets the tops of the harvest and hare gets the bottoms.

Classroom integration/mini lessons/content connections:
This could work as a mentor text where students can analyze the two main characters in the book and discuss how the characters habits and accomplishments attribute to the story's message. As a class, they can take notes on the characteristics, habits, and accomplishments of both main characters. Then students can explain how each characters' habits and attitude about work affect the outcome of this partnership.

This book could also be used a mentor text to demonstrate an author's deliberate use of form or layout of the book itself and illustrations. As a class, they can concentrate on the look and feel of the book before reading the book aloud. Students will be asked to review the illustrations and the book itself and note what is interesting. Hopefully students notice that the book is vertically aligned and the teacher can guide students to notice this and some key points in the illustrations. As pairs, students will be given a short story and will be challenged over a couple of days to create the layout and illustrations for that story.

This book could be used for plant growth science unit and analysis of different vegetable types.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 Hare grow carrots, beets, & radishes, and keeps these root crops while the Bear gets the keafy tops. Bear is not happy & next year demands the tops. So Hare plants lettuce, broccoli, & celery, and Bear gets the useless bottoms. Bear is very mad and demands both tops & bottoms next year. So Hare grows corn, and Bear gets tassels & roots & stalks, while Hare keeps the ears of corn in the middle.

Lazy Bear then decides to stay up and work during planting and harvest season and keep all the profits, learning a lesson. Hare uses the money from the sale of the crops to buy back the land he'd sold to pay his bet with the Tortoise after their famous race.

Steven's illustrations are gorgeous, using bright colors for the detailed paintings, which carry the humourous tale. Themes include gardens, vegetables, laziness, the value of hard work, and cleverness. The book opens vertically so the two page speads are tall. It's a little diffferent to get used to holding the book for read alouds, but the funny, clever story is well worth it.

For ages 6 to 10, garden, vegetable, work, humor, and trickster themes, and fans of the Hare and of Janet Stevens.

[Micaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Hare tricks a bear so he can solve his problem of feeding his family. Tops and Bottoms is a trickster tale that has a strong and important message. The message I got after reading this book is that we should work for what we want because it won’t come to us that easily. I really liked the illustrations because they were simple yet they included a lot of information that helped reinforce the text. My favorite thing about this book is the design and layout! I love that this book is read from the top to the bottom, I think it provides a unique way to read the book. Not only is it unique but this layout, for me personally, kept me engaged and I just wanted to keep reading. I also like how the design and layout of this book relates to the title, this book is read from the top to the bottom, hence the title “Tops and Bottoms.”

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this clever children's picture book about a hare who is trying to feed his hungry family. The bear is lazy and the hare is willing to work and is able to to reap the benefits.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this aloud so many times. Every single time the children love it.

[Morton Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Folklore-inspired, detailed illustraions, funny (appeal terms from NoveList) - Emma

[Patricia Copeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: traditional literature, grades K-3
I just love the illustrations in this book! They are prefect in bringing this fun story to life. Janet Stevens is one of my all time favorite illustrators and she doesn't disappoint! The story itself is very clever and will definitely have students giggling whenever the hare outsmarts the bear. This is a cute, quick read aloud that would be great for a primary classroom!