In this European version of Demi’s The Empty Pot (1990), an aging, childless king tests would-be successors by handing each a seed and telling him to plant it. Populating his illustrations mainly with grumbling, gorgeously clad knights viewed from various off-kilter angles, Hess also tucks in amusing details—and a farmer’s lad named Jack, who is just a spectator but gets a seed nonetheless. Despite his best efforts Jack can’t make anything grow, but when he reluctantly presents his empty pot, the king commends him for honesty (“I don’t know where those knights got their wonderful flowers from, but they weren’t from the seeds I gave them. You see, I boiled those seeds for a whole hour before giving them out”) and anoints the astonished lad. Jack becomes a nature-loving king who persuades many knights to exchange their swords for garden forks and is last seen posing like the male half of American Gothic. Chuckle-worthy, and with a seed of wisdom at its core. (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 7-9)
