Ten Apples Up On Top!

This one is SO simple, like so beyond dick and jane simple, that it comes out the other side and becomes wonderfully arch. "Three, three, I see, I see." What a world of consternation is there, and if only you knew, weird dog, that Lion will soon have TEN apples up on top, and so will you, and there will be a bear with a mop and so many wonderful things!

While the story is silly, and a bit absurd, the charm of the narration and the characters and the illustrations is abundant. In fact, the silliness only adds to the appeal. Three animals - a lion, a tiger, and a dog - become competitive with each other over how many apples they can balance on their head. Eventually, they bond over their strange skill, only to then be pursued by some angry bears and birds who want to knock all the apples down. Will they ever be allowed to enjoy balancing apples on their head in peace?

Dr. Seuss was a genius at writing delightfully absurd scenarios that somehow touch at our human core, and this book is no exception. Balancing apples on one's head is unusual, but competitiveness is not. The way the trio show more eventually bond is endearing, and sometimes can be an outcome of friendly competitions, indeed, is the best possible outcome. Also, the theme of accepting differences in others, which is a key motif in much of LeSieg's books, is mildly handled here. The bears and the birds are preternaturally angry at the apple balancers, but as soon as everyone has an apple on their head, they are happy. This seems to suggest that they dislike them because of the difference, but once they try it themselves, they realize that it's not bad to be different, but wonderful.

All of these ideas will be subconscious for the young reader. What stands out to them is the fun factor. The illustrations are comic, with an endearing tiger and dog and lion performing zany antics, like jumping rope or skating while the apples teeter on their heads. Also, the angry bears and birds provide fun comic relief. Nonetheless, the main draw of the book is the writing, because LeSieg, generally known as Seuss and originally known as Geisel, is the master of comic poetry, and while the story here isn't as fine as some of his later books, the rhythm and sound of the narrative are perfect for being spoken, while conveying a humorous tone. Also, the book involves counting to ten, which is a fascinating task for my preschooler. A nice package on many levels, this is another fine book by Dr. Seuss. show less

Although I was a huge Dr. Seuss fan as a child, I missed Ten Apples Up on Top until my son started reading it. I probably missed it because he originally published it under his Theo LeSieg pseudonym. My son first discovered the edited board book version and the graduated to the full version in first grade. He in turn read it to his sister so now both children love it.

Ten Apples Up on Top is the story of three rollerskating friends, a lion, a dog and a tiger and their competition to see who can balance to most apples up on top. As they add more apples their rollerskating adventures become sillier and more extreme, highlighting the absurdity of balancing apples on one's head.

What I love abut Ten Apples Up on Top is that it's fun to read show more aloud but easy enough for early readers to handle by themselves. That means we can either join together on the couch for family story time or Sean or Harriet can read the book to themselves. Sometimes they even read it to me. show less

I do not think this is one of Dr. Seuss' best books but I did really enjoy it. I liked how towards the end of the book instead of competing with each other they all stacked apples together. I also liked how the end does not turn out to be all the other animals trying to make the lion, tiger and dog fail. I think this book is about teaching kids a fun way to count.

This didn't go at all where I thought it would. Twice. For a book like this, that's a very good thing.

I enjoyed Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss for the characters and the clear emotions. The main idea of this book was being able to count to ten. This book teaches counting through stacking apples on top of heads. The characters were great because they were animals. This creates a neutral feeling by eliminating the factors of choosing gender, race, and physical traits. Zoo animals were used, like lions and monkeys, placed in the jungle. Although these animals may be dangerous in real life, in the book they are used to portray many emotions. This is the second reason I liked this book. The emotions of happiness and curiousness are very vividly portrayed in the book. For example, when the lion is stacking a high number of apples, the show more monkey curiously creeps up on the jungle branch, intrigued by the lion. His body description and facial expressions clearly displayed this. show less

I liked this book for two reasons: the writing and illustrations. The writing was very engaging. Readers are engaged into the book by counting throughout the story while also following along to the plot. The author encourages readers to count not only forwards, but also backwards. For example, “Five, six, seven! Fun, fun, fun! Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!” Counting forwards and backwards illustrates number sense to early math learners. The illustrations are also appropriate to the mood of the story. The happy and silly mood is supported by the illustrations of the entertaining tiger, lion, and dog while trying to fit ten apples on the top of their heads. The big idea of this story is to encourage readers to work hard to show more count to ten apples, just like the main characters. show less