Book Review: A single Shard

"A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park is about an orphan named Tree-ear who lives with Crane-Man, an old, homeless widower who took Tree-ear in when an epidemic raged through the monasteries', who could not keep Tree-ear in fear of contaminating him. The setting of this story is in a twelfth-century Korean potters' village Ch'ulp'o. Tree-ear was content to live with Crane-man under a bridge, barely surviving on a few scraps of food. All of …

…the artistry and inventive process of these craftsmen and about the imaginative urges of this young orphan. This is a beautiful story, about patience, endurance and love, and friendship, which is well worth reading. This is a story of a boy, a family, a culture, and, ultimately, how a single shard of celadon pottery changed them all forever. I will always cherish this book for teaching me some very important lessons on emotion and life.