In our effort to become more familiar with China and its culture, we have begun to check out children’s books about it at the library.  Some of my favorites have been by an author who signs her name on her books simply as Demi. To give you a preview, I will tell you about one of her books called The Empty Pot.

A little boy named Ping has a green thumb and is able to make anything grow. The emperor has no heir, and because he also loves flowers, he uses them to choose the future emperor. Every child who is interested is given a seed and is told to go home, plant it, and come back in one year to show their plant to the emporer.

Although Ping is a wonderful gardner, he is not able to make the seed grow. When the time comes to take his plant to the emperor, he is stopped by several young friends who want to show off their beautiful flowers. Ping sadly takes his empty pot to show to the emperor.

As it turns out the emperor had cooked the seeds to keep them from growing. Ping’s honesty made him stand out and be chosen as next emperor!

What an awesome  story about the rewards of honesty!