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    The Empty Pot
    The Empty Pot
    The Empty Pot
    Ebook34 pages20 minutes

    The Empty Pot

    By Demi

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The Empty Pot is Demi's beloved picture book about an honest schoolboy

    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.

    An IRA-CBC Children's Choice.
    An American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateOct 16, 2007
    ISBN9781466811577
    The Empty Pot
    Author

    Demi

    Demi, along with her husband, Tze-si Huang, has been a practicing Buddhist for more than twenty years. She is the author and illustrator of many children's books, including Firebird, The Dalai Lama, Buddha, and The Dragon’s Tale. Her book The Empty Pot was selected by former First Lady Barbara Bush in 1990 as one of the books to be read on the ABC Radio Network Program Mrs. Bush's Story Time. Demi was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started drawing at an early age. She lives in Carnation, Washington.

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    Reviews for The Empty Pot

    4.5/5

    29 ratings23 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Empty Pot is a short story about a little boy trying to grow a flower to become emperor. Ping, the little boy, is a talented gardener usually, but as he attempts to grow this flower it doesn't work. The story has a moral of being honest and has a different way of getting the point across. In the classroom this book could be used for elementary students studying different cultures. It could also transfer into some really cool art or science lessons. Possibly, creating flower art or actually growing the flowers. I think that students would really enjoy the art in the book and the extension lessons that could come about.
    • 5/5
      This book was great for giving students the opportunity to learn about trust. Since Ping worked and worked to make his plant grow but still nothing grew. He still went and told the emperor that nothing grew. This was all he was looking for in a person to take over the kingdom. The Empty Pot allows students to see an example of hard work and perseverance. Perseverance could be applied to school tasks also. Overall this book was very good!
    • 5/5
      When the Chinese emperor proclaims that his successor will be the child who grows the most beautiful flowers from the seeds the emperor distributes, Ping is overjoyed. Like the emperor, he loves flowers and anything he plants bursts into bloom. But the emperor's seed will not grow, despite months of loving care, and Ping goes before the emperor carrying only his empty pot. The emperor ignores the beautiful blossoms brought by the other children and chooses Ping, revealing that the seeds he handed out had been cooked and could not grow.
    • 5/5
      The Empty Pot is a morality tale where Ping, a Chinese boy with a green thumb, is challenged by the Emperor along with all the other children of the land to grow the best plant from special flower seeds in order to determine the next ruler. Ping tries his very best but his seeds do not grow into a plant and although he is humbled, he brings a barren pot before the Emperor as show of honesty while the other children display fully bloomed plants. The Emperor then reveals he has cooked the seeds ahead of time as a test to their truthfulness and because Ping did not deceive the leader, he has proven himself as the most honorable competitor and is rewarded by being named the next Emperor.Demi does not mention or provide a citation for the original source of the folktale. The plot is simple and direct and I would recommend it to students in grades K-5. The theme of honesty is clearly portrayed. Demi's illustrations are beautiful and provide readers with a glimpse of old Chinese culture. Moral and cultural norms can be understood by children of all nationalities.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful illustrations. You can tell it's a Chinese story from illustrations.? Like it.
    • 5/5
      Honesty is the best policy. In this wonderful story we find Ping, a young boy able to grow just about anything. The emperor, like the other people in his empire, grows his own flowers. It is something he loves. He knows he is getting older and won't be able to continue so he must find someone to rule his kingdom when he is gone. He calls all of the children together and gives them each a seed. He says they are to tend it for a year then come back and he will choose. No matter what Ping tries his seed won't grow. He, unlike all the other children come with an empty pot and admits he tried his best, but couldn't get the seed to grow. He is chosen to be the next emperor because of his honesty.
    • 3/5
      A charming, simple story with pretty illustrations. In "ancient China", an emperor who loves flowers decides that his heir will be the child who can grow the most beautiful flower from the seeds he distributes. Ping, who has a wonderful green thumb, for the first time cannot get anything to grow, and he's ashamed to be the only child to show the emperor an empty pot. Joke's on everyone else, though--the emperor boiled the seeds, so none of them should have grown! Since Ping is the only honest child in the whole country, why, he must be the perfect heir.

      A charming little fable. Perhaps a bit more could have been made of Ping's humbling, as he's kind of rude to his friends about his talents, but the lesson is implied.
    • 5/5
      The Empty Pot is a tale from Chinese folklore exquisitely drawn and interpreted by Demi. The protagonist is Ping, a young boy with a gift for gardening. Ping and all the other children of the kingdom are given flower seeds by the elderly Emperor for a competition to “show their best in a year’s time” to succeed the emperor to the throne. Ping painstakingly tends the seed for a year, but the seed fails to grow into a flower. Ping is afraid to bring the empty pot to the Emperor, but his father tells him to go because, “You did your best, and your best is good enough to present to the Emperor.” Ping cries as he presents his pot to the Emperor because all the other children have beautiful flowers, but the Emperor smiles and says, “I have found the one person worthy of being Emperor!” The seeds the Emperor gave to the children had been cooked and could not grow; thus Ping’s honesty and courage are rewarded. Demi’s illustrations, meticulously rendered ink drawings in oval panels in the style of Chinese paintings, relate the parable of honest labor and courage rewarded in gentle and contemplative manner. 
    • 4/5
      A modern elementary school favorite to read aloud, shows that honesty and integrity makes a great leader, not having the best "stuff."
    • 4/5
      This book has a simple moral that is told with beautiful illustrations. I liked this book very much for its style of illustrations as well as its illustration details. Every page is illustrated with colorful paper fan art. Since the book is about growing flowers, every page is filled with beautiful landscapes with flowers. For example, when Ping is introduced he is planting flowers. These flowers fill up the entire page and have vivid colors. This book also has great detail in the illustrations. Since Ping is shown as quiet and humble he is always shown by himself. Pages that mention the other children are very busy and have multiple people in the frame. When Ping is mentioned he is subtly drawn which matches his personality. The main idea of this book is honesty.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my most favorite books. I love the lesson about honesty and intergrity this book presents. The emperor is going to pick a child from his village to be his successor. He gives each child a seed and a year to show him the results. Ming is so excited in the beginning but as the book progresses things aren't looking very good for him. This is one of those books, that when it's over, you just need to take a second and soak it all in. I highly recommend this!
    • 5/5
      The Empty Pot tells an ancient story about a boy named Ping. When the emperor of his town asks all children to plant some seeds, he explains that whoever comes back with the best flower in a year will become the next emperor. Ping cannot get his flower to grow, and sadly goes to show the emperor his empty pot. Meanwhile, all the other students have beautiful flowers. The emporer explains that all the seeds were duds, and Ping was the only honest contestant, and therefore is emperor.I have never heard this story before but it has a beautiful message and the illustrations were gorgeous.
    • 5/5
      This folktale sends a valuable lesson for kids to carry throughout their life. Telling the truth, will always get your further than telling a lie. In the book, the emperor is looking for a new person to take his place, but he does not know who. He eventually comes up with a plan to give every kid a seed and whoever plants the most beautiful flower would be the next emperor. Ping's seed would not work, which we later learn, is because all of the seeds were bad. Since Ping was honest, he was granted the privilege to take his spot as Emperor! The illustrations were also very well done.
    • 5/5
      In my opinion, this is a very good book. I liked the book for three reasons. First, I liked the plot of the story. It was easy to follow, but was not completely predictable. For instance, when the emperor gave out the seeds, and Ping was having trouble with it, I knew that the emperor had something up his sleeve. However, I didn’t expect the seeds to be cooked! This leads to my second reason as to why I enjoyed the story. I loved the characters! The emperor was wise and smart. He was looking for a child to be truthful, and not cut corners to make his or herself look good. Therefore, I think it was slick for him to give all the children cooked seeds. I also loved Ping. He really demonstrated hard work and honesty, and it paid off. The third reason I enjoyed this story is because it forces readers to think about tough situations. The story allows readers to think about how they would respond if they were in Ping’s situation. For instance, Ping, who was great at taking care of plants, struggled with growing the seed from the emperor. When it was time to take the plant back to the emperor, Ping want going to go. He didn’t want to show up with an empty pot. However, his father told him to go because Ping did his best, and that was good enough. Therefore, the story’s central message is honesty, and hard work. Ping worked his hardest to get the emperor’s seed to grow, but it didn’t; when it was time, Ping grew the courage to go to the emperor with an empty pot, and explain why it was empty.
    • 5/5
      The Empty Pot tells the story of little Ping who is given a challenge with a reward that is too great to be true. This book had wonderful illustrations and a great story about honesty and I would use it in my classroom to promote honesty. This book would be good for the grades 1-3.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite books. This book is about this flower Emperor who wants to find a child to take over his flower empire. The Emperor decides to give every child a seed and see who can grow the best flower and become the next flower Emperor. This child named Ping, tried very hard to plant this seed, yet there is not a flower after months of trying. I wish I can keep telling the story, but it was a great story and I do not want to spoil it. Just read it, it is worth it.This book informed that one of the most important elements in our daily bases is honesty. It also has different drawing styles compared to many other story books. It gave a very cool Chinese theme.The empty pot will fit good for 2nd grade to 6th grade. I believe it is still powerful for adult as well.
    • 3/5
      Ping loved flowers and he loved to plant them. One day the Emperor decided he needed to choose a successor because he was growing to old. Being that he loved flowers he was going to let them decide. He called for all the children to come to palace to receive special flower seeds. Whoever had the best in a year will become the successor. When ping got his seed him planted it so carefully and made sure it was perfect. He took such good care of the seed but as days went by nothing grew. Ping was very concerned and changed the pot and seed thinking this would help. A year went by and Ping only had an empty pot to show to the Emperor. When the Emperor saw Ping he asked why he brought an empty pot. Ping told him what happened and the Emperor smiled. He told him that all the seeds were cooked so they could not grow. Because of Ping's courage he made him the Emperor. This is a great book to teach children you should always tell the truth. It shows them that honesty is rewarded with good things.
    • 3/5
      The story extols the virtue of honesty and takes place “a long time ago in China.” A Chinese emperor, and lover of nature, wildlife and especially flowers, decides to find his successor by holding a contest seemingly to see who can grow the most beautiful flower—“their best”—within a year, from seeds he provides. A boy named Ping, who does grow remarkable flowers, cannot get anything to grow from the seed given to him by the Emperor. All of the other children bring pots blooming with beautiful flowers. The universal implication of “honesty is the best policy” is revealed in this simple story when Ping pleases the Emperor by confessing he could not grow a flower from his seed. The Emperor announces that all of the seeds were damaged to begin with, but Ping was the only one to not cheat and use another seed, thereby proving himself a worthy successor. The story is vividly enhanced by the delicate illustrations, showing a variety of flowers in the children’s pots and the Chinese landscape. Memorable quote from Ping’s father: “You did your best, and your best is good enough to present to the Emperor.” Target audience K-2nd grade.Demi, . (1996). The empty pot. New York: H. Holt.
    • 5/5
      A lovely story with beautiful art that has a moral message that will appeal to children.
    • 4/5
      The Emperor seeks a successor by holding a contest to see who can grow the best flower from the seeds he distributes. Only one child dares to tell the truth and present an empty pot, not knowing that all of the seeds were cooked and therefore useless. A lovely, well-illustrated fable about integrity and honesty.
    • 5/5
      Part CaDemi. (1990). The empty pot. New York: Henry Holt and Company.Ping is a boy who lives in China. The emperor needs to choose a successor to the throne. So he decides to choose by using flowers. He gives all of the boys and girls seeds to plant and one year. The child with the most beautiful flower will become the next emperor. Ping plants his seeds and nothing grows. He does many things to try and get his seeds to grow. But in a year’s time, he returns with an empty pot. All of the other children have beautiful flowers. The emperor chooses Ping to be the next emperor because he had cooked the seeds and his empty pot proved that he was the only one worthy of being an emperor. The unique feature of this tale is the tale’s message. Ping is rewarded for his honesty.
    • 3/5
      Ping is a little boy who has a gift for growing plants, especially flowers. The Emperor of China asks for all the children to come to the palace and gives them each a flower seed. He explains to them that whoever can grow the best flower from the seed he has given them in a year they will become the successor to the throne. Ping tends and cares to his seed all year long, but is surprised to see that nothing has grown in his flower pot. A dishearten Ping takes his empty pot to the Emperor and is rewarded for his honesty. I believe what makes this book so interesting is how the illustrator choose to display the pictures in a circle on the center of each page.Extension Ideas1. Have each student plant a seed in a styrofoam cup and measure the plant’s growth each week over the course of at least 4-6 weeks. Then have them document their recordings on a sheet of graph paper. 2. Have students research what the climate is like in China during fall, spring, winter, and summer. Then as a class using a Vin diagram for each season compare and contrast China’s climate to our own.
    • 5/5
      This is a wonderful tale of a boy with a green thumb in China. The emperor loves flowers and decides to have all the children plant a seed and bring him the plant in a year, he will then chose who will become the next emperor. Although Ping usually grows flowers with great ease, his seed will not grow. His father encourages his to take the empty pot anyway. It turns out that all the seeds were bad, yet Ping was the only honest child who brought back the empty pot and was named emperor.

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    The Empty Pot - Demi

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