A Single Shard

Author: Linda Sue Park
Copyright Date: 2001
Publisher: Clarion Books
Number of Pages: 152
Reading Level: Historical Fiction
Genre: 13 & Up

Summary

"A Single Shard" is about a boy named Tree-ear who became an orphan when he was just a young boy. He was taken to live with Crane-man, who only had one good leg and who lived underneath a bridge. He lost his family too, so he and Tree-ear lived together and became close friends. In Tree-ear's village, there were many potters; one who's name was Min. He was the most skilled potter in the village, however he was also the slowest because he was very particular about his work. One day, Tree-ear was looking at the shelves of some of Min's work. He was looking at particularly interesting boxes when Min came in the room, startled Tree-ear, and the boxes broke. To repay him, Tree-ear worked for him for nine days; after that, he continued working for him and became his apprentice. Tree-ear hoped that Min would teach him to be a potter someday. He worked very hard for Min, however for the longest time he still never touched the potter's wheel. One day, the Emissary from the Royal Palace came to look at all the potters and choose one to give a Commission to work in the Palace. The emissary offers a conditional commission to a potter named Kang, who wasn't the best potter but he came up with a new method of decorating that was very valuable. The emissary visited Min and said that if he would create a work using this new technique, he would surely get a commission. Min worked hard with the help of Tree-ear to make fine pottery, however when they went in the kiln the glaze was messed up; Min destroyed those works and had nothing to show to the emissary. The emissary then offered a deal: if he would work on a piece then bring it to the Palace, Min would be strongly considered for a commission. Since Min was getting to old, Tree-ear volunteered to take the new pottery to the palace in his place.

After finishing the fine pottery, Crane-man made a special, safe case to carry the pottery in, and finally Tree-ear was ready for his journey. He was doing just fine, until two robbers attacked him and threw the two vases--that he was taking to show the emissary--off a cliff. Tree-ear found them both completely shattered. He took one larger shard, and quickly went to the palace. He finally got there, presented the single shard to the emissary, and was told that Min would receive a commission. Although the emissary was only able to see a small shard, he knew that Min's work was great. Upon arriving home, Tree-ear learned that Crane-man had died, so Min and his wife offered to take him in and gave him a new name: Hyung-pil. Immediately Min sets him to work, and Hyung-pil realizes that Min is going to teach him to spin the wheel.

Reaction

This book was hard for me to really get into it at first, however by the end I really loved the story!

Recommendations

I would recommend this to anyone, I think it has a lot of good messages that can be learned from it.

Problems/Conflicts

Crane-man dies, Min is sometimes very rude/mean-sounding to Tree-ear, and robbers attack him. Also he's an orphan and lives underneath a bridge, which is not an ideal situation. Other than those few things there weren't any problems!