Ping's Perfect Pot

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Pub Date Jan 07 2025 | Archive Date Jan 13 2025

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Description

*Published by our sister imprint, Beaming Books

"[Ping's] embrace of all aspects of the creative process makes for a delightful holiday tale. A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life and movement."
Kirkus Reviews

"A gentle, relevant holiday story and a welcome addition to Lunar New Year collections."
School Library Journal

KNEAD, MUSH, MASH. Ping molds a pot for Lunar New Year. 

When Ping and Grandpa bring a tangerine tree home for Lunar New Year, Ping decides to make the perfect pot to go with it. But making a pot is hard. With Grandpa's encouragement, she tries again and again to get it just right. The first is too clumsy, the second crumbles, and the third is too flimsy. What if she can't make the perfect pot? Will it ruin the new year?

For anyone feeling discouraged over learning something new, Ping's Perfect Pot reminds them not to give up when something isn't immediately easy. Perfection takes practice, patience, and, in the end, the love and effort you put into it. Backmatter provides more context and the deeper meaning of Lunar New Year traditions and symbols found within the story, as well as around the world.

*Published by our sister imprint, Beaming Books

"[Ping's] embrace of all aspects of the creative process makes for a delightful holiday tale. A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life...


Advance Praise

"[Ping's] embrace of all aspects of the creative process makes for a delightful holiday tale. A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life and movement."
Kirkus Reviews

"A gentle, relevant holiday story and a welcome addition to Lunar New Year collections."
School Library Journal

"A charming story about the ups and downs of the creative process, with vibrant illustrations that will spark the inner artist in every reader."
Helena Ku Rhee, author of Sora's Seashells

"Author Helen Wu weaves threads of love, family, and appreciation for Lunar New Year traditions through every page of the story as the young protagonist, with encouragement from her wise and gentle grandfather, struggles to create the perfect pot for their good luck tangerine tree."
Vivian Kirkfield, award-winning children's author and host of #50PreciousWords and #50PreciousWordsforKids

"The perfect story about imperfection and the rewards of persistence."
Karen Yin, author of So Not Ghoul

"[Ping's] embrace of all aspects of the creative process makes for a delightful holiday tale. A charming story of encouragement, illustrated with life and movement."
Kirkus Reviews

"A gentle, relevant...


Marketing Plan

-Special outreach to Asian American media, bloggers, and influencers

-Targeted publicity campaign to librarians and booksellers

-School and library conference promotions

-Author launch team

-Early ARC availability

-Special outreach to Asian American media, bloggers, and influencers

-Targeted publicity campaign to librarians and booksellers

-School and library conference promotions

-Author launch team

-Early ARC...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9798889830429
PRICE $18.99 (USD)
PAGES 40

Available on NetGalley

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Average rating from 23 members


Featured Reviews

This book shows that with a little bit of patience and persistence, a beautiful item can be created. It ties in culture with a learning opportunity for the reader. The illustrations were amazing. Some looked like they could leap off of the page!

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When Ping and her grandpa get a tangerine tree, she is determined to make a perfect pot for it to live in. But no matter how much she tries, she just can't get it right; her initial pots are too clumsy, too flimsy, too fragile. After much trial and error (and encouraging words from her grandpa) she finds a way to not only make the perfect pot, but to realize that all the pots are perfectly imperfect in their own ways.

A beautifully illustrated, sweet story celebrating perseverance and family. I love how it also incorporates Lunar New Year traditions as Ping's grandpa prepares the house for celebrations as she's working — and the back pages are full of cool information about them!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

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I thought that this book was lovely!

It was well written, it was easy to follow and understand and my daughter really enjoyed it. It had some great messaging and it was really enjoyable.

The illustrations in the book were wonderful and they really bring the story to life. My daughter learnt about Chinese New Year so this was a great follow on for her and she learnt more about the meaning and celebrations.

It is 5 stars from me for this one - very highly recommended!

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I used Ping's Perfect Pot for a read-aloud and lesson on onomatopoeia with a group of kindergarteners, and it was a hit! The story is a quick and engaging read that kept their attention from start to finish. The use of sound words provided a fun way to introduce and explore onomatopoeia. I did find the sentence breaks that carried over to the next page a bit challenging for reading aloud. This may have been due to using the Kindle app. Thank you to NetGalley and Augsburg Fortress Publishers for an advanced copy of this text in exchange for my honest review.
#Netgalley #PingsPerfectPot

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Ping's Perfect Pot is a picture book about perseverance. Ping gets a new tangerine tree with her grandpa and decides it needs a new pot. She goes about crafting pots out of different materials, each one having a problem, before finally finding a solution. She then repurposes her "failed" pots for other plants that benefit from the perceived faults. This is a fun read with some helpful information in the end about different Lunar New Year traditions. Thanks to Beaming Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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In a Nutshell: A wonderful OwnVoices picture book about a young girl’s attempt at making the perfect pot for the lunar year. Great story, great life lessons, great illustrations, great representation, great information. Recommended!

Plot Preview:
Ping and her grandpa have brought home a little tangerine tree for the Lunar New Year. The tree is lovely but the pot it is planted in is plain. So Ping decides to make the perfect pot to go with the special tree. This task turns out to be tougher than she assumed as all her attempts fail in some way or the other. What if she cannot make the perfect pot in time for the celebrations? Will the new year be ruined?

I like how the setting isn’t specified in the book. So the story can fit in any Asian location celebrating this special occasion as well as in an Asian-dominant locality in another country such as the various Chinatowns in the USA.
Ping’s relationship with her grandpa is amazing. I love how Grandpa always encourages her to keep trying, and later, even makes her realise the value of the discarded earlier attempts. Their bond comes out strongly. A grandpa-granddaughter combo is among the very best in picture books.
There is a detailed note at the end, not just about the meaning of Lunar New Year but also about how it is celebrated and some customs pertaining to it. The author’s note about the influence behind the story is also quite touching. However, both of these notes are quite detailed, so most children will need adult guidance to read them.
Picture books about persisting and using failures as lessons towards success are fairly common. But in this day and age of instant gratification and shortcuts to success, such lessons have become all the more important. Children need to understand the value of the good old traits of patience and perseverance in working towards a goal. Moreover, they also need to understand the futility of always aiming for perfection.
Two factors make this book stand out among other picture books with a similar theme: 1. The Lunar New Year angle, which offers plenty of information about this East/SouthEast Asian festival; and 2. The depiction of how “failures” also have their own merit and aren’t entirely worthless.
The vocabulary level is apt for the target age group of 4-8 years. But the number of lines is quite sparse for the older readers of this segment; most of the pages have only 1-2 lines of text. There are many onomatopoeic sounds and action words in the content, which would make this a wonderful option for read-alouds as well.
The illustrations are cute. Every person/item, whether major or minor to the storyline, is sketched with intricacy. I love how nicely red and gold have been woven into the colour scheme of almost every page.
Definitely recommended to those looking for an interesting OwnVoices work with a nice story and important morals. The info about the special ‘new year’ is a bonus. This would also make a great option in classrooms looking for authentic books about other cultures.
4.25 stars.
My thanks to Beaming Books and Augsburg Fortress Publishers for providing the DRC of “Ping's Perfect Pot” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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Such a creative childrens story about lunar new year traditions. I love the idea of also using pots that “aren’t perfect” for other plants to show kids understand perseverance but also to avoid perfectionism as well. Beautifully illustrated book!

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This beautiful children's book tells the story of Ping, a young girl, who desperately wants to make a special pot for the tangerine tree she and her grandfather bought for their lunar new year celebration. Ping tries many different materials for her pot, but none seem to turn out just right. Her grandfather reminds her that the perfect pot takes time, trial and error, practice, love and effort. In the end, she realizes that all of her pots are special and have an important use for their lunar new year celebration, even if they are not-so-perfect.

I love that Ping ends up drawing, planning and taking her time on the very last pot. As an art teacher, I often have to remind students that taking their time and planning things out is important. I also like the messaging from the grandfather about not giving up, and how all of the pots are perfect because of the love and effort she put in. There is no need to be over critical of your art, as long as you try your best and put your love and creativity into it!

The illustrations are well done, and the content of the story, especially with the added information specific to Lunar New Year celebrations and traditions is fantastic. I love that the story is more than just a "what is lunar new year" book, it focuses on one aspect of the celebration and teaches readers about other things as well, such as the art aspects and not giving up. That makes it a book you could read anytime of year, not just around Lunar New Year, and is an own voices book with Chinese representation.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review an advance copy of this book. I look forward to purchasing a copy for my classroom library now that it has been published!

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