Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens

34 pages. Harcourt Brace, 1995.

A poor, but clever, hare strikes a deal with a wealthy, lazy bear to plant vegetables in the bear's field. Each season, the bear gets to choose the tops or bottoms of the vegetables, and each year, gets the less useful part of the plant. When the bear finally chooses both tops and bottoms, the hare plants corn. The hare gives the bear the tassels at the top and the roots at the bottom -- and keeps the ears of corn. Bear learns from this to plant and harvest his own vegetables. Like many other books on this topic, this one has no explicit nutritional information, but is a fun story in which vegetables play an important role.

Ages: 3-7
Cultural Context: non-human