As Tree-ear continues to learn and grow, he finds himself interested in watching a master potter at his craft. These characters develop a father/son relationship regardless of their odd circumstances and delight in the company of one another. The main character, Tree-ear, is a thoughtful, polite, and respectful boy who lives under a bridge with an older disabled man named Crane-man. She charts Tree Ear's transformation from apprentice to artist and portrays his selflessness during a pilgrimage to Songdo to show Min's work to the royal court he faithfully continues even after robbers shatter the work and he has only a single shard to show.Ī Single Shard by Linda Sue Park tells the story of a young orphaned Korean boy who finds friendship and purpose in his adolescent years. Park convincingly conveys how a community of artists works (chopping wood for a communal kiln, cutting clay to be thrown, etc.) and effectively builds the relationships between characters through their actions (e.g., Tree Ear hides half his lunch each day for Crane-man, and Min's soft-hearted wife surreptitiously fills the bowl). made a man no better than a dog.' From afar, Tree Ear admires the work of the potters until he accidentally destroys a piece by Min, the most talented of the town's craftsmen, and pays his debt in servitude for nine days. Though the pair reside under a bridge, surviving on cast-off rubbish and fallen grains of rice, they believe 'stealing and begging.

In Ch'ul'po, a potter's village, Crane-man (so called because of one shriveled leg) raises 10-year-old orphan Tree Ear (named for a mushroom that grows 'without benefit of 'parent-seed'). Park (Seesaw Girl) molds a moving tribute to perseverance and creativity in this finely etched novel set in mid- to late 12th-century Korea.

A single shard full book