a single shard
linda sue park
published by clarion books
copyright 2001
152 pages
historical fiction
this book is about a young orphaned boy named tree ear who lives with a man named crane mane under a bridge. he watches a potter names min and one day breaks something of min's. to pay off the broken pottery, tree ear agrees to work for min. after his debt is payed, tree ear stays and still works for min because he has a love for pottery and wants to learn the trade. min wont teach him because he isnt his son. min makes two beautiful vases to give to the royal commisioner but cant travel all the way there so tree ear does it for him. on th way to the city, the vases are broken by theives and all that is left is a single shard. tree ear goes to the city and shows the commisioner the shard and get min a commsion for his pottery. when he returns, he finds out that crane man died. min's wife takes him in and tree ear makes a beautiful vase with cranes on it for crane man. i really likes the story but i thought it was a little slow. it was really hard to get into and stay into. i wouldnt really recomend it but i would discourage it.