A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park is a Historical fiction book about a young orphan named Tree Ear. Tree-ear lives under a bridge with his guardian crane man. Tree-ear was interested in pottery works and he would watch people do pottery work without them knowing. But then one day he accidentally breaks a pot and an angry old man starts yelling at him, Tree ear didn’t have a lot of money to repay him so he decided to volunteer to work to make up for it. This story took place in Korea in the 12th century. At the start of the book, It was really boring, but if you continue to read, the story starts to get a lot more interesting. I wouldn’t recommend this book to kids because it contains death and crime. I would recommend this book to my peers and people who are interested in pottery work. This book was overall great, the vocabulary wasn’t very difficult and I could not put this book down.   (Cilla. Grade 7)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 4/5

A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, is a beautifully symbolic story about a young orphan, dubbed tree ear, who lives under a bridge with his one-legged friend and guardian, crane man. He soon takes a special interest in the works of one famous potter, Min. While watching him one day, he accidentally breaks a pot and volunteers to work without pay to make up for it. The work soon becomes a daily rhythm and Tree Ear grows to enjoy it, but will he ever be able to pursue his true desire and work at the pottery wheel himself? This book is based in 12th century Korea in a potters village which provides valuable cultural insight into the life and roles of the people who lived back then. The book could be considered historical fiction to explain the history of one very real vase called the Thousand Cranes Vase which is a creative way to wrap the story into everyday life. I think this book is an excellent book for someone of 9 years and up. Readers should know that it contains themes of death, crime, and suicide but it is an otherwise light-hearted book. The vocabulary is easy and the actual book itself if very short which makes it an excellent book to read by the pool or anytime else you just want to relax.  (Anna. Grade 7)

Rating: 4/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 1/5

A Single Shard was written by Linda Sue Park and goes under the genre of realistic and historical fiction. This book is about a boy named Tree-ear. He lives under a bridge with his friend and they get their food from rubbish heaps and whatever nature offers. Tree-ear finds himself being very interested in pottery and often watches potters forming their creations without them knowing. Though before he knew what was happening he found himself standing over a pot he had broken and an angry, old potter yelling at him. He wanted to repay the potter but didn't have the money so he decided to come work for the potter. At first the book is kind of boring, but it gets better the further you read. I would rate this book 2.5 - 3 because(as mentioned earlier) some parts were boring as well as sad. In total the word vocabulary wasn't very difficult and I would say it wasn't a bad book. (Enya. Grade 6)

Rating: 3/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 2/5

This book, I will say it's a bit in the middle of fun and boring. I mean it's my opinion but I still think the story itself, it is not really interesting as other books I like, but still, it’s fun. It kept me thinking about the book. The book is about people’s lives in a small village cold Chulpo located in Korea. The big setting of this book is a bit dark(dystopia), which is a really interesting topic for me, but the book itself doesn’t talk about the settings much, it only talks about the story that is going on. The interesting fact that I found was that they don’t have any main characters, they don’t really show who the main character is, and they don’t even show their real names. As a Korean, it was more fun to read this book. The vocabulary for me was just okay. (Lael. Grade 6)

Rating: 3/5

Vocabulary Difficulty: 3/5