Also present at the awards dinner were students from Rose Anne King's OCC architectural class, who displayed colorful posters inspired by the winning essays.
This was the second annual essay contest sponsored by the Costa Mesa Library Foundation, whose mission is to expand existing library services and build a new state-of-the-art central library in the city.
*Goblins, Hares and Bears
The themes in children's books quite often are taken from folk tales and fairy tales. They get told over and over again, varying a little with the author's interpretation.
Lesley Conger's "Tops and Bottoms," published in 1970, is one of these. The delightful illustrations by Imero Gobboto help tell the story of how the farmer kept tricking the horrible goblin.
The goblin wanted half of the crop so if he asked for tops, the farmer planted something that grew under the ground, and if he asked for bottoms, the farmer planted something that the top half was harvested. Eventually the goblin got so mad he disappeared and never came back.
My son was small when the book came out, and it was his favorite book. We ended up repeatedly checking this same book out of the library. It was read to him at least twice each night at bedtime. I don't remember what broke the chain, but he really liked that book.
Recently I was remembering that time, and looked up "Tops and Bottoms." Much to my surprise, I found that someone else had used the same title in 1995, and this book, by Janet Stevens, also uses the "tops and bottoms" of vegetables.
In this case, the slothful bear now owns the land. The hare wants to get his land back. The hare plants vegetables on share, with the bear choosing tops or bottoms.
