A Single Shard

I bought this because my fifth grade grand son had to read it for school and he was telling me about the story. I'm a potter—we decided to share the story. This is well written with decent character development and a clear story arc. The factual information about pottery and the making of pottery is accurate and worked gracefully into the story line. The plot involves a young boy in ancient times who is trying to find his way through life as an orphan. He stumbles upon a community of master potters and becomes interested in their processes. The boy gets hired to do chores for one of the best potters, and finds a way to help his master vie for a place on the emperor's potting commission. It's an adventure, a story about building your self esteem and your skills, and a great story about commitment to others. I recommend this YA story for any age.

First, hats off to Linda Sue Park to pack so much into so few words. Another author, given the same outline, might have produced a thousand-page tome. But Park, like Min in the book, finds the bare essentials and uses them to advantage. Second, the characters are spare but deep. No shallowness here! Third, the story itself is a mix of lessons and can stand alone whereas the lesson of the story is discovered between the lines. Thus, the young reader learns much straight from the written words. Older readers will cherish the wealth of meaning, value and other thoughts that lie waiting between the lines. I recommend this book for all children from 6 to 99.

It seems to me that Park's books are written much like fables, with each chapter, each episode drawn with poignant but concise brush strokes. Sometimes, as with "Long Walk to Water," this doesn't work too well; there just isn't enough in whole to support full-blooded characters. Here, this writing style serves her - and all of us - excellently. As elsewhere, she dips in, she dips out. But here, with each emersion, she beautifully captures the essence of the time (so long ago!), the place (so mysterious and yet intimate), the story (plenty captivating) and most of all, the characters, especially Tree-ear. In about a hundred and fifty pages, she brings them all so fully alive and compelling. This is only one young man from a remote village on the other side of the earth, some 900 years ago. In a world where we might easily wonder if anything we ever do has any impact at all, we can see through this brief but powerful story that even in the smallest niche in time, the courage and perseverance and faith of a single person - without magic or histrionics - can truly make a difference. The story truly advances the Eastern philosophy that there are consequences to each and every act (each shard?) of man. I love this story at every level.

This was a wonderful historical fiction that takes us back to the 1100s Korea. The story is about an orphan boy who is fascinated by the village potters, one in particular names Min. The boy was named Tree-ear by his friend who is called Crane-man. Because he is an orphan, he doesn’t get a real name. This boy shows great bravery despite difficulties he faces throughout the story. I highly recommend this book.

A shard is a broken piece of pottery, and the boy and his mentor are broken shards of people. However, both of them retain enough of the design to continue their lives. This is a wonderful tale of an abandoned orphan growing up with a cast aside crippled man in ancient Korea. Daily survival is a first and very difficult skill for the boy to learn, and by accident he is introduced to a passionate interest and then he inveigles his way into an apprenticeship to learn from the master. The thought-provoking interpersonal relationships among the four characters, the hard lessons of patience for the boy, the developing sense of honor and lessons learned for both young and old in this low-key adventure story make it a tale to remember.

I was first introduced to Linda Sue Park from reading her picture book to my son, "The Firekeepers Son". It was a great story, and meaningful. Later, we listened to her books in the 39 Clues series ("Trust No One", and "Storm Warning"). Her books are kind, and have a lot of vivid imagination. She wove in Korean culture, folk tales, art, and history in a way that made it all come alive. This book is well-researched and I love how it ties in real historical locations and objects. The characters in the book also demonstrate good values, such as friendship, caring, courage, taking responsibility. I also found one or two precious little tips how to deal with life. I suggested this book to my nine-year-old for his book report, and was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed it so much he practically finished it in three sittings.

The reader is transported to ancient Korea and introduced to the demanding work required by the making of celadon pottery. It has been years since I have seen celadon, but the author's descriptions were so precise that I could see it in my mind's eye as clearly as if I had been holding a piece. I try to read all the books I give to my grandchildren, and I found this Newberry Award winning novel to be quite exceptional. Youngsters will be exposed to Korean culture and history as they read this engrossing and moving story about a 13-year-old orphan boy. Love, loyalty, honestly and perseverance are all themes of this slight volume. Relationships are thoughtfully, honestly explored and are at the heart of the story. As a former teacher and as a therapist, I recommend this book for youngsters in grades four through eight.

If you like Authentic Asian stuff this is the book for you.

Based on 12th Century Korea, this book narrates the tale of a 12 yr orphan boy Tree-ear who wants to learn pottery from one of the most established potter of thet religion, Min. This is a story of resilience and perseverance which didn't disappoint at all. There was so much to learn & assimilate for adults as well from this tale of not giving up. With less than 160 pages long, this book could be finished in one sitting. To those who don't know Korea has produced one of the finest pottery in the world since the ancient times and this book gives an elaborate glimpse of the setting and making of the Pottery Culture of ancient Korea prevalant during that time period.

Finally, Min paused to draw breath. Tree-ear dared not look up. He felt like a beast with two heads, one ashamed, the other resentful. Ashamed that he had not finished the work properly, resentful that Min had not given him complete instructions.“Two things a man never grows tired of watching,” he heard Crane-man say in his mind. “Fire and falling water. Always the same, yet always changing.”

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