Tops and Bottoms

In this cute and clever story, the hare family has fallen on hard times. Hare lost a bet to tortoise (fun connection to the tortoise and the hare story), and had to sell his land to the lazy bear who has never had to work for anything. The clever hare convinces the lazy bear that he will do all of the planting and harvesting, and they will split the profits, and he can even pick, tops or bottoms. The problem for bear is that there is no use in the top half of a carrot, or the bottom half of corn....and after being tricked time and again, will the bear ever learn? The illustrations are so detailed, and the orientation of the story changes making it so interesting and fun. This is one of our favorites to read every spring in my classroom!

This clever tale is about a hungry rabbit and a well to do but very lazy bear. The rabbit convinces the bear to let him use some of his land to plant a garden. The rabbit promises to do all the work and the lazy bear will get half of the harvest. The rabbit lets the bear choose what he wants, the top or the bottom. Once the bear chooses the tops, the rabbit plants vegetables that grow below ground, giving him the actual vegetable and bear the greenery that grows on top. This tale of trickery goes on until the bear decides he better do his own work if he wants to ensure he gets the most out of the garden. This Caldecott Honor book has beautiful pictures that add to the folkish charm of the story.

Tops and Bottoms is a folktale about a smooth-talking hare and a very lazy bear. When the Hare Family is in dire straits, Hare hatches a plan to plant the fields of Bear, a wealthy landowner. Each season Hare offers Bear the option of Tops or Bottoms. When Bear takes Tops, Hare plants root vegetables while Bear sleeps; in the next season when Bear says bottoms, the Hare family plants lettuce and broccoli, again while Bear sleeps. Becoming more irate, the next season Bear asks for "Tops and Bottoms." The Hare family plants corn. Finally, Hare and Bear learn to live together but do not become business partners again. A good lesson about the importance of staying informed. The illustrations are made with actual vegetables.

This is a great way to teach students about what happens to you when you are lazy. It's a funny story that even as an adult will have you laughing. I like how the book is written differently too, this makes it exciting for students to read.

This book is pretty great. It was about a lazy bear who learned the hard way, from a hare, that hard work is earned. This book reminded me of the story of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise trudged through to win the race, working hard. The hare was confident and lazy. He decided to take a nap while tortoise pushed on. The illustrations in this book are wonderful, as I was able to see clearly what was happening and the colors used were bright and vivid. While reading, I would rea the text, then move onto the pictures, admiring them.

This folktale is hilarious as it tell the story of a lazy bear and a trickster/smart rabbit. The Rabbit ends up getting all the good crops as the bear sleeps through the planting. Every time he awakes to get his share if the crops, they aren't what he likes, so he ask the rabbit to plant more crops in different spaces. Well the bears gets fed up and decides to do his own work and get the benefit of doing it himself.

"Tops and Bottoms" is a humorous story I think kids will get a good laugh out of. For starters, I loved how you had to turn the book sideways and then flip the pages from bottom to top. I thought that was clever since the book is titled "Tops and Bottoms." The story is about a lazy bear who doesn't want to do anything except sleep. He is rich and owns lots of land, but doesn't do any work. Hare and his family are struggling for food and money so they come up with a clever idea. They work out different deals with bear to where they're left with vegetables and bear is basically left with nothing. By the end of the story, Hare and his family are able to pay for land for themselves and open a vegetable stand and bear learns the meaning of show more hard-work and starts harvesting his own vegetables. I think kids will love this story and learn the true meaning of hard-work. Being lazy won't get you anything in life; you need to work hard for what you want and you will be successful. I loved the illustrations in this book because they were very simple, detailed, and colorful. I had never read this book before, but I would love to have a copy in my future classroom. show less