A Well-Written, Carefully Crafted YA Novel

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	• A Single Shard Linda Sue Park Yearling, 2003 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 141 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Well-Written, Carefully Crafted YA Novel

Though the novel's ancient Korean setting is vivid and central to the story, the author transcends the young adult historical fiction genre. By depicting the struggle for survival faced by a young orphan, Tree-ear, and his elderly friend, Crane Man, Linda Sue Park manages to add the theme of living honorably to the rich background of Celadon pottery making in ancient Korea. With each decision in his journey, from scrabbling in the dirt for a few grains of rice to eat, to traveling with a master potter's sample works to the palace of the king, Tree-ear weighs his choices against the background of integrity and dignity taught him by the morally scrupulous Crane Man. I read this novel as an adult, and enjoyed it very much.

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Excellent book!

I teach 6th-8th grade in a very small private school and needed a book that would challenge the 6th graders without boring the 8th graders. I have found it with this book! Even though the story takes place long ago and in a foreign land, the theme of family and belonging is just as relevent today. The details the author adds to the story help the reader picture an unfamiliar place and time easily. I am looking forward to using it as a group reading project in the upcoming 9 week grading period.

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a orphan dream

A single shard is a great piece of historical fiction. this novel is based
in Ch'ul'po, on the west coast of Korea in the mid- to late twelfth century. This book is about a young named tree-ear that is an orphan boy. tree-ear lives in a brig with his friend crane man. Crane man and tree-ear are poor and hardly survive from a little food they have. It all changes for tree-ear sees master potter min making a pot. tree-ear wishes that he could some day make his own pot. One day tree-ear sneaks in to min house to see min's work accidentally tree-ear brakes a pot of master min because master min frighten him as he study the pot in his hands. Tree-ear has to pat off the damages by working for the potter for 9 days. when tree-ear pays off the damages he tells master min that he wishes to work for him and no pay. Master min takes tree-ear's offer.

Some dislikes of the story was when min told tree-ear that he would never teach him how to do pottery. Another dislike was when tree-ear and crane man had to live under the brig thought the winter .Some things that really liked was when min's wife gave tree-ear a jacket from her dead son to keep him worm in the winter. I really loved it when min's wife told tree-ear to call her Ajima which meant aunty. I did not like it when min never told tree-ear how much he appreciated the work he did for him. I liked when the author told the tradition f the potters passing it down only to their Childs.

The main conflict of the story was when the emissary came to the village and was looking for potters to be chosen for commission . Min and kang's work were chosen to be show to the royal the pots but they chose kangs work. The emissary told min if he could go to sondo he would give him a chance to show new pots the problem was that min was to old to walk or travel that far so tree-ear afford to take the pots to Sondo to show the potters work. Tree-ear gets to Sondo but in his journey he gets robed and has no pots to show the emissary . But a shacking thing happened. The emissary "I cant tell the ending if min got the job or not".

Some things that happened in the book was when crane man died while tree-ear was in his journey . A glade thing happened when tree-ear came bake he got to live with min's family. Anther great thing was min's wife gave tree-ear a new name and takes his orphan name away which is hyung-pil . The greatest thing that happened was that min is going to teach tree-ear how to pot. I recommend this book to any person how wish to read a interesting sad story.

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Don't Stop Beliving

A SINGLE SHARD took place in 1500's Korea. It's about an orphan boy called Tree Ear.

My favorite part of the book was when Tree Ear is attackede by robers. They take all his money. They also through the pots that Tree Ear has in a Basket that's on his back over a cliff. They then run away with his money. Tree Ear gets the Biggest Shard.

I recommend this book because it's an amazing book. Its a very adventures book. It has affect me because it tells me that I should never give up. I should always keep on going. It helped me in many parts of my life.

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An Enchanting Tale

This is a fantastic look at Koryo era (AD 918-1392) village life. This story revolves around an orphan living in a small seaside pottery village named Ch'ulp'o. During the course of events, the four main characters learn life lessons such as: friendship, forgiveness, hope and loss. The author beautifully painted the plot with her words. Personally, I am a fan of history and found this, although fictional, account memorizing. I really became invested in the characters and the events that unfolded. I was actually very disappointed that it ended so abruptly. I could have read and read, if the author had continued.

This book is part of my schools curriculum and I had received a few negative reviews from some students. I though I would read it myself to see if their criticisms were valid. I was completely entranced by this book. I couldn't wait to read, page after page. After I was finished, I discussed this book with the students and found that most of them had an appreciation for this book once we discussed it. I highly recommend this book to grade 6 students through to adults.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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