The Pot That Juan Built (Pura Belpre Honor Book. Illustrator)

Rating:
Summary: trite and dreary
Review: I find it truly amazing that this book received so many positive reviews. The art is very good but by no means excellent. It comes across as a cartoonish and cliched portrayal of the Mexican landscape. The story is a dreary, condescending, and trite approach to its multicultural subject matter. A [copy] of the Classic poem "The House that Jack Built", its easy substitution of Mexican tools and terms, and repetitive, stilted phrases hardly render it a visionary poetic masterpiece. The verse becomes so bogged down in excess rhyming verbs, and empty descriptive words like 'beautiful' that the reading experience is like slogging through cow manure. That's before we attempt the smaller print on the right, which is as exciting an an encyclopedia excerpt, and a complete turn-off to children. As a pre-school teacher and mother of two young children, I found it was a grinding read that truly sapped my energy and put the kids to sleep..well before their bedtime.

Rating:
Summary: Appeals to multiple age groups.
Review: I love this book! It has appealing rhythm, action and the repitition that children respond to. As as parent and a teacher I really appreciate the expansive age appeal... the story appeals to 6-7 year olds, the educational side bars explaining the story details for older children and the last section of the book with actual photographs has appeal for the adult reader. What a great gift! This book has history, art, archeology, science. The illustrations are magical. It is a "must have" for the libraries of young and old.

Rating:
Summary: Appeals to multiple age groups.
Review: I love this book! It has appealing rhythm, action and the repitition that children respond to. As as parent and a teacher I really appreciate the expansive age appeal... the story appeals to 6-7 year olds, the educational side bars explaining the story details for older children and the last section of the book with actual photographs has appeal for the adult reader. What a great gift! This book has history, art, archeology, science. The illustrations are magical. It is a "must have" for the libraries of young and old.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Beautiful Book!
Review: I'm appalled at the lack of love for this book! I am a teacher of a 3rd grade classroom in California where my children are learing about how humans use the world around them to create their life and build their culture. This book is a perfect tie-in to this concept. The illustrations are beautiful and I found the rhymes to be intelligent and descriptive. Two thumbs up from me, and 48 thumbs up from my class!!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Beautiful Book!
Review: I'm appalled at the lack of love for this book! I am a teacher of a 3rd grade classroom in California where my children are learing about how humans use the world around them to create their life and build their culture. This book is a perfect tie-in to this concept. The illustrations are beautiful and I found the rhymes to be intelligent and descriptive. Two thumbs up from me, and 48 thumbs up from my class!!

Rating:
Summary: My kid is obsessed with this book
Review: The absorbing subject matter of this book, presented through catchy rhymes and alliteration and strong, colorful illustrations, has completely captured the imagination of my four-year-old. For three days now, he's been "Juan" almost exclusively, following ants to a vein of "the very best clay, all squishy and white," pretending to make vessels for every conceivable purpose, and peppering me with questions about Mexico, pottery-making, and Juan himself. I've had to draw the line at cutting my hair for paintbrushes and gathering the "dried cow manure" left by the neighborhood dogs. "The Pot That Juan Built" appeals to pre-schoolers' burgeoning interest in rhyme and other aspects of language; making things out of simple materials; and the world around them generally. I give it my highest recommendation!

Rating:
Summary: My kid is obsessed with this book
Review: The absorbing subject matter of this book, presented through catchy rhymes and alliteration and strong, colorful illustrations, has completely captured the imagination of my four-year-old. For three days now, he's been "Juan" almost exclusively, following ants to a vein of "the very best clay, all squishy and white," pretending to make vessels for every conceivable purpose, and peppering me with questions about Mexico, pottery-making, and Juan himself. I've had to draw the line at cutting my hair for paintbrushes and gathering the "dried cow manure" left by the neighborhood dogs. "The Pot That Juan Built" appeals to pre-schoolers' burgeoning interest in rhyme and other aspects of language; making things out of simple materials; and the world around them generally. I give it my highest recommendation!

Rating:
Summary: not impressed, kids were bored
Review: The art is not as stunning as in some other recent titles, but certain design elements are unique and make for an interesting composition. I encountered resistance when reading this story to my kindergarten class. They lost interest when I reached the historical information on the right side of the book. It was an interesting idea to incorporate the true facts of Juan's life, but I think the structure and layout of the story suffers from this dense presentation of facts. As for the poetry, I would have been more impressed by an original voice and rhythm uniquely suited to its Mexican subject and setting, and not borrowed from a Classic nursery rhyme.

Rating:
Summary: not a good seller
Review: The pictures are very nice. But as other reviewers have said, the structure and layout is fatally flawed and the writing style more appealing to adults who grew up knowing "The House that Jack Built". I'm finding it's not a popular seller. As a bookstore owner, I'm also finding that the publishing industry is more and more out of touch with consumer demand. That even goes for many of these smaller companies. Lee & Low, I admire your multicultural aim, but shake up your editorial dept. please! Many of your books are too similar, the writing trite and stilted. Do more humor, go deeper, be more original in style and content!

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Classic
Review: This is a beautiful book, in illustration and in content. It is the true story of Juan Quezada, a potter, and a celebratory tale of the village of Mata Ortiz, Mexico. Quezada's discovery of ancient pottery methods transformed Mata Ortiz from an impoverished village into a prosperous community of world-renowned artists. The story is cleverly told in the form of "The House That Jack Built". It is sing-song-y in it's rhythm and children will be enraptured by the story Ms. Andrews-Goebel has written and the beautifully vibrant illustrations of Caldecott Award winning illustrator, David Diaz. A more complete story of the famous pottery is told on the facing pages, providing intricate details of a fascinating process. A photo-illustrated afterward follows Quezada through the process of creating a pot, from the digging of the clay to the completed product. This book is a great addition to any child's multicultural library and informs us of one of the great contemporary and nationally recognized Mexican artists. DELIGHTFUL!!!