The Empty Pot

Reader Response: As a reader, I was initially drawn in by the adorable illustration on the front and intrigued as to the significance of the pot. As I was reading, I really enjoyed the illustrations - they are simple but detailed, and very beautiful. I was also kept turning the pages by the rich story line, which tells the tale of a young boy in ancient China who participates in a contest held by the emperor to grow the most beautiful flowers - whoever wins becomes the next emperor. The boy tries and tries, but can't get anything to grow, so he brings his empty pot to the emperor along with all the other children and their beautiful flowers to present to the emperor. It turns out the emperor gave them all boiled seeds that could not have produced flowers, and as the protagonist is the only one who was honest and came back with his empty pot, he is crowned emperor.

Evaluator Response: The story is engaging, as the reader wants the young boy to be successful and sees him continue to struggle, all the while wondering why his seed won't grow. The illustrations provide very effective visuals for the story line, depicting each event in beautiful detail and helping the reader truly see the impact of the young boy's hard work not coming to fruition and his sad empty pot next to everyone else's beautiful flowers. When we find out at the end that the boy will actually get the ultimate reward for his honesty, the true moral becomes obvious and pulls the whole story together.

Teacher Response: This book would serve well as part of a unit on Ancient China, as the visuals and the dynamics between the people in the story are historically accurate and help children get a sense of what life might have been like during that time. Additionally, it would be excellent for practicing the comprehension strategy of making predictions, as we don't know why the boy's seed won't grow or what will happen we he goes before the emperor empty-handed. Students can repeatedly predict what will happen and make inferences, with the expectation they will change as more of the story is revealed. The moral message is also a way to communicate to children that honesty and doing the right thing are rewarded, even when it is difficult or embarrassing to be honest.

Literacy Coach Response: As mentioned in the above paragraph, this book would serve well to help struggling readers with their comprehension skills. Making inferences and predictions are both essential to understanding this story, but it is an easy-to-follow plot, so it would be a good way for students to develop their monitoring strategies. Additionally, the visuals in this book would be helpful for struggling readers, and the relatively small amount of text on each page would not be intimidating for a student who might normally be overwhelmed by the idea of reading a full book.