Reference
Rebecca Nazario Wright
1st & 2nd Grade
Falk School
Book Review
A Single Shard
This Newberry Medal-winning short novel is a great read, particularly for grades 3 (as a read-aloud) through middle school. The setting is 12th century Korea, and the book does a great job of showing what life for common folk was like during this time, particularly the life of members of the craftsman/artisan class. Tree- Ear, the main character is an orphan who is essentially homeless; he lives under a bridge with a disabled elderly man, Crane-Man. After a mishap involving a pottery box, Tree-Ear finds himself working off a “debt” to Min, the local potter. Through this experience, Tree-Ear realizes that he wants to become a potter himself, and after a series of trials and an arduous journey to the capital to show an example of Min’s work to an emissary of the Emperor, Tree-Ear eventually is adopted and apprenticed by Min’s family.
The tale does a nice job of outlining what everyday life was like in 12th century Korea, and the characters are generally richly portrayed. The reader gets a strong sense of not only what everyday life was like, but what it meant to be an orphan in a culture where much depended on Confucian notions of family and filial piety. The hard life of a craftsman is outlined clearly, leaving the reader with an even greater sense of awe at the immense beauty of the celadon pottery made in these technologically “primitive” times (compared to today’s “shortcuts”). The novel nods to the particularly hard aspects of life in these times when easing this harshness with an age-appropriate happy ending.
This book is, in short, a wonderful piece of writing, and is written for an older audience. As a 1st and 2nd grade teacher, I do not think I could recommend it as a read-aloud for the younger set. The complex nature of Korean society during this time period coupled with the need for an understanding of life as an orphan, apprenticeship and class systems put this book beyond the reach of the average 1st and 2nd grader. That being said, I think that perhaps excerpts could be read to give an understanding of what was involved in creating such beautiful pottery, for example; as part of a larger unit on Korean art, I may read some excerpts about how one didn’t just go in and flip a switch to turn on the kiln, but instead spent long hours chopping and hauling wood, etc. I feel that at the young primary grade level, the book can be used to illustrate concepts that are being taught in a more “direct” fashion. And, by reading some brief excerpts, I would hope to pique the interest of the kids so that they would return to this book at a later date.
