The Empty Pot by Demi

Publisher blurb: A long time ago in China there was a boy named Ping who loved flowers. Anything he planted burst into bloom. The Emperor loved flowers too. When it was time to choose an heir, he gave a flower seed to each child in the kingdom. "Whoever can show me their best in a year's time," he proclaimed, "shall succeed me to the throne!" Ping plants his seed and tends it every day. But month after month passes, and nothing grows. When spring comes, Ping must go to the Emperor with nothing but an empty pot.  Demi's exquisite art and beautifully simple text show how Ping's embarrassing failure is turned triumphant in this satisfying tale of honesty rewarded.

Ping has an empty pot but others bring pots filled with glorious bright flowers.

"I admire Ping's great courage to appear before me with the empty truth, and now I reward him with my entire kingdom and make him Emperor of all the land."

A lovely story, well told and most attractively presented. Kirkus Star Review

A couple of days ago I mentioned The Empty Pot by Demi and I realised I had not shared this splendid book with you here. In fact I also need to talk in general about the US author and illustrator Demi.

Who is Demi? Demi is is the author and illustrator of more than one hundred books for children. Her works have received numerous awards and accolades, among them ALA Notable Children’s Books, The New York Times Best Illustrated Books, Notable Books for a Global Society, American Bookseller Pick of the Lists, the Middle East Book Award, and the Christopher Award, which recognises individuals whose work makes a positive difference in the world. Demi has travelled extensively and studied art in Mexico, India and China.  She lives with her husband in Washington.

Her Chinese husband, Tze-si “Jesse” Huang, told Demi the story of The Empty Pot and The Magic Pillow. He remembered these tales from his childhood in China where his grandmother used to tell him ancient stories. Her original name was Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt.

This is a painting by William Morris Hunt the great grandfather of Demi:

Image source: Wikipedia Commons

Here are just a few of the books by Demi. They are expensive here in Australia and some are out of print but I suggest you look for books by Demi in your local or school library. If you work in a Primary school library I recommend you add The Empty Pot and The Magic Pillow to your library and if you work in a High School library I am certain your art teachers will love the colours, book design, and use of circle frames. Demi's book are wonderful to share with students. 

Here is a list of some titles by Demi:

Marie Curie

Florence Nightingale

St. Francis of Assisi

Tutankhamun

Genghis Khan

The Girl Who Drew a Phoenix

Marco Polo

The Magic Pillow

The Boy Who Painted Dragons

Mother Theresa

The Legend of St Nicholas

King Midas: The Golden Touch

The Dalai Lama: Foreword by his Holiness The Dalai Lama

One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folk Tale

Buddha

A Prince and his Porcelain Cup illustrated by Li Jian Translated by Yijin Wert

"The little prince was very lonely without any friends in the palace. He looked at all the porcelain pieces in the palace and loved them. Every day he carefully wiped his mother's favourite porcelain cup."  The cup he loves is called The Chicken Cup. In a fit of rage the little boy breaks this precious cup.

Image Source: Commons Wikimedia

The Prince takes the cup to a porcelain craftsman and over time the wise old man shows the boy how his cup was made from clay on the potters wheel, the care that need to be taken with painting on the design, and finally the placement in the very hot kiln. The little prince comes to realise this is a complex process and his broken cup cannot be repaired. In later years when he became the Emperor, the little prince is still thinking about his mother's cup. He summons the best craftsmen and finally "The Emperor's wish can true. It was like his mother's favourite cup had returned to him."

You can see some art from this book here.

The chicken cup is from the Ming Dynasty. The word chicken in Chinese is similar to the word luck and so chickens symbolise fortune and happiness. Read more here.

About the Chicken cup: "In the world there are ... less than 20 pieces real Chenghua doucai chicken cups  still in existence, and most of then are collections of famous museums ... The cup has a flared mouth, with shallow curvature of its sides, and shallow ring foot. It is decorated with two pairs of chickens and their young, a rooster and a hen leading their young to feed. The illustration is full of life."

About Li Jian: Li Jian graduated from Hebei Normal University in 2001, majoring in Chinese Painting. Formerly a middle school art teacher, children's book editor and a partner in an illustration studio, Li now owns his own illustration studio focusing on illustrations for children's fairy tales. He has many bilingual books about Chinese culture and stories, such as his Chinese Zodiac Series and the stories of Mulan and Zheng He. Source - Shiny Lantern

A Prince and his Porcelain Cup is a dual language text in English and Chinese. Here are some other books illustrated by Li Jian. He has an excellent series which feature the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Tiger Brother will be published in 2022 (The Year of the Tiger). 

I suggest you also look for A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park as a companion text to share with an older reader. This is a story set in Korea which also focuses on the skills involved with pottery.

The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini

Tuesday Treasure

Hwei - the lightless moon on the last day of the month

Ming - becoming luminous

Hwei Ming is blind. Her father the emperor offers a reward to anyone who can help her to see. Visitors come from all over the kingdom with prayers, potions, pins, incantations and spells. Nothing works. One day an old man hears about the blind princess.  He sets off on a long journey carrying a walking stick made from "a single piece of golden wood."

On arrival at the city gates the guards refuse him entry. He looks so ragged and poor. The old man reaches out to touch the faces of guards and then he sits down with his stick and his whittling knife. He shows the guards his carving of the journey he has made to Peking from his home to these city gates. The guards are entranced. His storytelling and carving are wonderful. They take the old man inside the city to show the guards at the gates to the inner city and from there he is taken to the door of the Imperial Palace.

The guards tell the emperor about the wonderful pictures carved onto the golden stick. Hwei Ming is sitting beside her father and she hears the story. She asks to see the stick.

"The old man leaned forward and petted Hwei Ming's head and caressed her cheek. For though she was a princess, she was still a child."  Placing his fingers on hers he helps her trace the stick and "see" the story. "And the princess' slim fingers felt the carved stick. Then he put her fingers onto his face and traced the same lines there. It was the first time the princess had touched another person's face since she was a very small girl."

This is a pivotal moment. Hwei Ming asks to feel the faces of those around her - the guards who are waiting close by and then her father, the emperor.

"She reached out and her fingers ran eagerly through his hair and down his nose and cheek, and rested curiously on a tear they found there. And that was strange, indeed, for had not the emperor given up crying over such things when he ascended the throne?"

You have probably guessed the rest of the story. The emperor gives the reward to the old man, the old man can now live in the Innermost City but he gives away the fortune in jewels. Have you guessed the most important thing about the old man himself?

Jane Yolen is the author of over 300 books. On her web page she talks about writing or retelling this Chinese fairy tale.

The illustrations in this book by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini are exquisite. They begin in black, white and grey but move to full colour as the old man shares his stories. Some of the richest pages are laminated giving them a beautiful texture reminiscent of cloisonne.

Image Source Books4yourkids

If you have been following my blog you will know my Tuesday Treasures are usually books that are now out of print. This edition of The Seeing Stick was first published 2009 and so it is out of print as is the earlier edition from 1977 which had illustrations by Remy Charlip and Demetra Maraslis.

I would pair The Seeing Stick with these:

The Glassmaker's Daughter

The Most wonderful thing in the World

The Black book of Colours

The Emperor's new Clothes Horse by Tony Wilson illustrated by Sue deGennaro

Step One read the famous Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes

Step Two read The Emperor's new Clothes Horse

Step Three read The Emperor's Underwear from the Seriously Silly stories series.

I do enjoy fairy tale parodies.  The Emperor's new Clothes horse is perfect.  The illustrations are whimsical and lively.  The twist of using a clothes horse and a horse race is a delightful innovation.

I do hope this book is short listed for the CBCA awards in 2013. It will be fun to share this romp in my library.

We have a good collection of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales in our library.

Here is an audio version of The Emperor's New Clothes. Here are lots of activities for this story. Finally here is the full text of the traditional story if you don't have your own Fairy Tale collection nearby.

Here is an image of a clothes horse which might be useful.