Author : Nancy Andrews-Goebel, Illustrator : David Diaz
Preschool - 2nd Grade

La vasija que Juan fabrico
The Pot that Juan Built

La vasija que Juan fabrico, Softcover, Spanish, Book, Nancy Andrews-Goebel, David Diaz, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781584302308, $8.95
The Pot that Juan Built, Hardcover, English, Book, Nancy Andrews-Goebel, David Diaz, Preschool - 2nd Grade, 9781584300380, $17.95

$333.83 for the Story Collection Pura Belpre Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 2 Hardcover Spanish Book, 8 Hardcover Bilingual Book, 19 Softcover Spanish Books, and 12 Softcover Bilingual Books

$121.80 for Story Collection Orange Books Spanish Set, Including 20%-Off, Free Shipping, and No Sales Tax : 2 Hardcover Bilingual Books, 12 Softcover Spanish Books, and 1 Softcover Bilingual Book

Pura Belpre Award Honor Book in 2004 for Illustration
Children's BookSense 76 Recommended List, Booksense
Starred Book of Merit, Five Owls magazine
International Children's Books of Note, United States of America, Bookbird
Best Children's Books of the Year, Outstanding Merit, Bank Street College of Education
"Starred Review", Publishers Weekly
Notable Books for a Global Society, International Reading Association (IRA)
Children's Book Award, International Reading Association
Best Books, Nick Jr. Family Magazine
Notable Books in the Language Art, National Council of Teachers of English
Best Books, School Library Journal
100 Titles for Reading and Sharing, New York Public Library
Best Books of the Year, Parenting magazine
Texas Bluebonnet Masterlist, Texas Library Association (TLA)
Lasting Connections Title, Book Links
Charlotte Zolotow Award, Highly Commended Title
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Children's Literature Choice List
ALA Notable Children's Book, American Library Associations
California Collections, California Readers
"Starred Review", School Library Journal
"Choices", Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Juan Quezada is the premier potter in Mexico. With local materials and the primitive methods of the Casas Grandes people—including using human hair to make brushes and cow manure to feed the flames that fire his pots—Juan creates stunning pots in the traditional style. Each is a work of art unlike any other.

 This is the pot that Juan built.
These are the flames so sizzling hot
That flickered and flared and fired the pot,
The beautiful pot that Juan built.

The text is written in the form of "The House That Jack Built" and accompanied by a comprehensive afterword with photos and information about Juan’s technique as well as a history of Mata Ortiz, the northern Mexican village where Juan began and continues to work. This celebratory story tells how Juan’s pioneering work has transformed Mata Ortiz from an impoverished village into a prosperous community of world-renowned artists.

With vibrant illustrations by Caldecott Medal winner David Diaz, THE POT THAT JUAN BUILT is sure to enlighten all who are fascinated by traditional art forms, Mexican culture, and the power of the human spirit to find inspiration from the past.

Listen to Vienna Rose read The Pot that Juan Built to you.  A marvelous example of the magical encounter between a child and books that we wish for all children.

Publishers Weekly : "Noted Mexican potter Juan Quezada is the subject of an inventive and engrossing biography from newcomer Andrews-Goebel (who coproduced a documentary on Quezada) and Caldecott winner Diaz. On the left side of each spread, a "House That Jack Built"-style rhyme accumulates the often humble factors that shaped an extraordinary artist ("These are the cows all white and brown/ That left manure all over the ground/ That fueled the flames so sizzling hot/ That flickered and flared and fired the pot/ The beautiful pot that Juan built"). This lilting rhyme describes the rudiments of Quezada's process, but for more ambitious readers, the opposite page provides a straightforward elaboration ("Juan's pottery is fired the traditional way, using dried cow manure for fuels.... [M]anure from cows that eat grass, rather than commercial feed, burns at the best temperature to turn his clay pots into perfectly fired works of art"). Diaz ingeniously ties the two narrative threads together with strongly horizontal compositions and radiant, stencil-like digital renderings (a highlight is the spread in which ants point the way to a vein of fine white clay). The artist shows Quezada both at work and seeking inspiration in the scrubby foothills. The glowing tones of the artwork capture the sweep and heat of the sun-bleached landscape, while the highly stylized elements echo the decorative motifs of Quezada's pottery and lend a suitably mythic patina to this visionary artist's story."

School  Library Journal : "Juan Quezada is one of the best-known potters in Mexico. Using only natural materials to form and paint his pots, he is responsible for creating a vibrant folk-art economy in his small town of Mata Ortiz. This unusual book is set up to allow for different levels of reading expertise, presenting information about Quezada in such a way that it can be read as a story or as an informational book, part biography, part fine-arts discussion. One page contains a catchy cumulative rhyme modeled on "This Is the House That Jack Built," which outlines the process of making a pot. The facing page offers a clearly written prose presentation, laying out the story of the potters life and his method of constructing pots in the classic style of the Casas Grandes Indians. Diaz’s arresting illustrations, rendered in Adobe Photoshop, use yellows, oranges, and reds in a layered effect that seems to glow with an inward light. The use of stylized forms—all of the people with a full-face front eye in the manner of ancient Egyptian art—adds a sense of gravitas and historical continuity to the artwork. An afterward gives a more in-depth treatment of Quezada’s life and work, and is illustrated with small inset color photographs. This is a must purchase for all collections, and could be used with Diana Cohn’s Dream Carver (Chronicle, 2002) for a look at how both art and economics of scale can work to enrich our lives and to build community."

Kirkus Reviews : "Ingeniously crafted with a three-part structure, this informational picture book tells the story of Juan Quezada of Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico, who single-handedly rediscovered the processes and materials used by the long-vanished Casas Grandes Indians to create fine pottery. Fascinated by the ancient potsherds he found as a child, Quezada knew that this pottery had to have been made using only natural materials found in the area, and so he began to experiment until he was able to create pottery that resembled these ancient fragments. The result, after many years, has been the transformation of his impoverished village into a thriving community of craftspeople, and the creation of astonishingly beautiful pottery that is now found in museums and art galleries around the world. Andrews-Goebel tells this story by interweaving a rhyme patterned on "The House That Jack Built" ("This is the cock that crowed at dawn/ That greeted the village and woke up Juan") with a prose telling of Quezada’s story ("When he was twelve years old, while bringing firewood down from the hill on his burro, Juan found his first potsherds"). A final section that includes small photographs provides additional factual and background information. Based on the author’s visits with Quezada to make a documentary film, no additional sources of information are provided. Diaz’s (Angel Face, 2001, etc.) characteristic illustrations, with colors somewhat muted by the earth tones of clay, reflect Quezada’s intricate, swirling pottery designs in background patterns, and capture, in a stylized manner, the ambience of the little village on the high windy plains of Chihuahua and the drama of Juan’s discoveries. A lovely and unusual offering."

Booklist : "Andrews-Goebel tells the story of Mexican potter Juan Quezada . . . . Diaz's computer-generated illustrations perfectly complement the story, reflecting the shimmering light and heat of the desert, and many of the images mirror the patterns found on Quezada's pottery . . . . A fascinating look at the skills of a self-taught master. "

"The Pot That Juan Built is much more than what one expects from the title, though the title will probably attract children, which - after all - is the point. It's an entertaining, ingenious melding of story, biography, and photo documentary celebrating creativity at a level completely understandable to young children." –GINNY MOORE KRUSE, CHAIR, JANE ADDAMS BOOK AWARDS COMMITTEE

"Readers will enjoy this book on several levels: the familiar, bouncy rhyme on the left-hand pages that tells the true story of Juan Quezada's renaissance of Mexican pottery; on the right hand pages, Diaz's glowing illustrations." –RORY WALSH, KIDS INK CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORES

"A striking combination of cumulative story (The House That Jack Built) and facts about Juan Quezada's remarkable pottery in this Caldecott-quality picture book." –BAYVIEWS, ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN'S LIBRARIANS

"It's a great glimpse into Mexican culture. This book is going to get a lot of attention. It's one of the latest non-fiction books about minorities. The dual story format works well. The book is a celebration of how someone's artistic talent had worth to the entire village." –VALERIE LEWIS, HICKLEBEE'S BOOKSTORE

"This is a biography of Juan Quezada’s pioneering work with pottery. Told with dual text—cumulative rhyme about how a pot is made alongside the narrative story about Juan’s life—the story can be read in two ways. Echoing the text, Caldecott Medal winner Diaz communicates through dual images, with Juan’s journey in making a pot superimposed with traditional Mexican designs. With an extensive five-page afterword including color photographs, this is as authentic as it is a quality piece of literature." –LIBRARY MATERIALS GUIDE, CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL

"This book actually takes some chances in execution and perspective. And the colors...wow! It's a heartening and progressive raising of the bar in children's literature." –CD SYNDICATED RADIO

"Dominated by a striking array of golds, browns and deep reds, which evoke the desert landscape and the many-hued shades of light that illuminate it, Diaz's illustrations, rendered in Adobe Photoshop, unite the two pages. Evoking the style and even some of the patterns of Quezada's pots, the bold spreads follow the artist as he teaches himself how to use the same local materials that were available to ancient potters (cow manure to fuel the flames that fire that pots, paintbrushes from human hair). Just as Andrews-Goebel's poems demonstrates the cumulative nature of artistic creation, so Diaz's image reveal the way finished art integrates multiple levels of detail into a coordinated whole." –THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"A lively lesson in innovative reporting of factual material, this is a multigenre celebration of a renowned Mexican potter, enlivened with vibrant paintings evocative of his Mata Ortiz village. A testimony to careful craftsmanship and indomitable spirit, potter Quezada's life and work is related for old or young in prose and in poetry using the story format of "This Is The House that Jack Built." An illustrated expository at the end of the book provides the history of the ancient Casas Grandes civilization and the stunning pots Quezada creates using their traditional methods." –BOOKBIRD

"This contemporary artist is celebrated through David Diaz's computer-generated illustrations that use earth tones and swirling lines to capture the essence of Quezada's pottery. Andrews-Goebel's book shares how two formats of writing can be interwoven to provide a multigenre effect. By combining different writing forms, the story takes on many layers that add to the story." –THE READING TEACHER

"With bold colors and clever adaptation of the classic 'This is the House that Jack Built,' the author introduces Juan Quezada. . . .Diaz's glorious art incorporates many of the pottery designs into the Mexican village's atmosphere and the bold sunsets. Older readers and adults will like the author's four-page afterword, which is about the real Juan, his artists and their pots. Children may have to pry this one from their adults' hands." –THE SACRAMENTO BEE

"The Pot that Juan Built is the true story of contemporary potter Juan Quezada and the transformation of the village of Mata Ortiz into an arts community. Readers will learn about the traditional methods Quezada uses to create beautiful pots. Younger students will enjoy the narrative written in the style of "The House that Jack Built," while older students will appreciate the details provided on each facing page." –TEACHING TOLERANCE magazine

"Along with the repetitive value of a cumulative story, Andrews-Goebel has added factual, biographical information about a real potter, Juan Quezada. This information was written at the lower elementary reader's level so that the reader can learn while reading the delightful story and viewing the culturally authentic illustrations. In The Pot that Juan Built, Andrews-Goebel and Diaz have collaborated to create a truly delightful and informative addition to any elementary classroom library." –THE ONEONTA READING JOURNAL

"This delightful parody of "The House that Jack Built" is a wonderful biography of Mexican potter Juan Quezada and the traditional process he uses to make his world renowned clay pots. The poetic storyline will appeal to children because of the repeating lines which grow as the story unfolds. . . .The computer-generated illustrations in rich, muted colors will make this a selection that will be read and re-read and read again." –Molly Weston, MORE PRESCHOOL PICKS

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