the+Single+Shard

This is a story about Tree-ear. He goes to a potter's shop and watches him. One day he goes there and breaks one of the little boxes. Min walks in and gets mad. In his anger, he slaps Tree-ear. To make payment for the broken pot, he must work for Min for nine days. After the nine days, he still likes working for Min and keeps working for him for about a year. A while later, Min tells him to go to Songdo to deliver two vases for the Emissary Kim. Crane-man then starts working for Min while Tree-ear is gone. When Tree-ear goes through Puyo, two robbers take the vases and smash them on the sand below. Tree-ear then runs down to see the vases broken to little pieces, some the size of pebbles. But he spots one shard that is the size of his hand. So he takes that to the Emissary Kim instead. When he got to his home, he then took the shard out of his pocket to show him. Though he was greatly disappointed, he agreed with Tree-ear that the shard showed Min's work. When Tree-ear gets home to Min, he tells him of what happened and he also found out that his best friend Crane-man died when he was on the bridge above the river. Min's wife feels bad for Tree-ear and he is welcomed into their home.

I learned that in Korea, pottery is very important to them because it has a lot of value and it is kind of like a currency to them. -Nikole In this book I learned how important pottery and finding work was to all the people. I also learned that potters were very respected because they made the most beautiful work, and if you got a job as a potter you were very good at it.- Amelia Joy I learned that pottery was very important, and they were respected greatly. Whatever the farmers left behind of rice in their fields the poor people or anyone could go and pick it up for themselves. Most of the people made their own clothes. -Kaira

I don't think I would recommend this book because it's not very exciting. But I did like it because it was a fast pace book. I also liked that there aren't very many people that you have to keep track of. -Nikole I don't think I would recommend this book unless there was somebody who wanted a quick read and a book that's easy to follow. It's a good book for people who like hearing about information and description of the things going on in the book but it would not be a good book for anybody who wanted an action filled book.- Amelia Joy I would not recommend this book because it is very slow and not much action. I would only recommend this book for a fast read. You learn a lot about their culture though. -Kaira