Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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!!!

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.

What a lovely book Andrews-Goebel has created. While I admit to a special love of the subject matter, anybody who is looking for a children's book that will be "a keeper" should get a copy of this small wonder. Beautiful words and pictures and an interesting (and true) story help to endear this book to any reader.

I have and extra 3 on hand for impromptu gifts for my friends' children.

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!!

For those in the know, the book suffers for want of careful editing. It is flawed, for example, by illustrator David Diaz' arrogance in placing his own designs on Quezada's pottery. Had this book been about van Gogh, Picasso or any other well-known artist, it is unlikely he would have portrayed their art with no concern for what it looked like in reality. This puts down Juan Quezada. Diaz also carelessly depicts Quezada building a pot by the continuous-coil method of the Indians of the American Southwest rather than by the distinctive method that he innovated and for which he is known. Better editing would have caught these problems with the illustrations as well as a multitude of minor inaccuracies that occur in the text, nearly one to a page. For example, in speaking of using a bean to burnish pottery, the author comments, "Of course dried beans can be found in any kitchen in the village." The bean in question is an inedible wild bean, the chilicote-not the kind that would normally be found in anyone's kitchen. Such editorial problems do not, however, detract from this production as a children's book. They are the sort that only one in the know would see.

A beautiful pictorial look at pottery art in Mexico. The connection that Juan has to pottery and nature is shown in the book. I liked the afterward that gives readers more background information about Juan and the pottery making process he used. I enjoyed the illustrations that show how Juan used natural elements surrounding him to create his art.

The Pot that Juan built by: Seth K

If you want to know what pottery evolved from read this book. I think it's funny but one part is disgusting, Juan uses cow manure to make a fire to harden the pots. A potter Juan and his burro are the main characters. Juan lives in the village of Mata Ortiz. Juan loves to make pottery and rides his burro up the mountains to get the clay to make the pots. Juan also makes the paint out of rocks and uses hair to paint the paint on to the pots. I recommend this book to people that like funny and a little nasty stories and who are 8-10 years old. The genre is realistic fiction because it actually could have happened. This book won the Pura Belpre Honor book award. If you want to learn about Mexico and how they make pottery, read this book.

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!

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.