Tops & Bottoms Book Review + Activity

This large book is a wonderful story involving a very rich lazy bear, and a family of hares, who were very poor. Bear did nothing with the land he owned, all he wanted to do was sleep. One day Mr. and Mrs. Hare decide they need to do something to feed their hungry children. They put their heads together and come up with a plan. Their plan was to go into business with Bear. Hare would do all the hard work of planting and harvesting the crops and they would split everything down the middle. "Which half do you want, tops or bottoms" asks Hare. "Tops!" Bear declares, before falling right back to sleep. He sleeps through the work of planting and harvesting the crops. When the time comes to receive his share, Hare gives him the top half of the veggies- the tops of potatoes, carrots, etc.-the crummy half. And so it goes with other veggies as Bear changes his mind to want the bottoms, then the middles, always getting tricked by clever Hare.

  

This book is funny, educative, and visually attractive. From the first page the boys were hooked. One of the neatest things about Tops and Bottoms is how the book opens vertically (from top to bottom) rather than horizontally (from side to side). The vertical orientation and double panel artwork complement the theme of the story; the reader goes from top to bottom of panels.  

This is a great book for read aloud and allows children to think about what hard work means. For children interested in gardening or want to grow vegetables it is a good way to introduce varies vocabulary as well as context for vegetables grown above and below ground.

We absolutely loved this book for more reasons than one, and I hope you and your children enjoy it too. 

Now for the activities;

 The boys and I discussed which plants grow under the ground and which grow above ground. You can find this fun FREE worksheet over at Kindergarten Crayons.

We also talked about what part of the plant we eat. I got this worksheet from here.

The boys did a watercolor painting of vegetables that grow underground. I drew the picture for them once the paint dried we went over it with a marker.

I also found the book being read aloud on Youtube.

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