A SINGLE SHARD

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Park, Linda Sue. 2002. A SINGLE SHARD. Read by Graeme Malcolm. New York: Listening Library ISBN: 0-8072-0701-2 Reading level: age 10 -14

PLOT SUMMARY

Background on the 12th Century Korea, this story is about an orphan named Tree Ear. He lived under a bridge with a crane man who was physically disabled. Their village, Ch’ulp’o was famous for celadon, and there was a master potter, Min. After watching Min working, Tree Ear was fascinated about making pottery, and had a dream of making his own celadon someday. One day, Tree Ear accidentally broke one of Min's pieces, and Min witnessed it. To compensate this damage, Tree Ear had to work for Min. An emissary named Kim visited the village to order a commission for the royal court. Min couldn’t finish his work before Kim leaves Ch’ulp’o, so Tree Ear had to take two vases to the Son-do, capital. On his way, Tree Ear met robbers and the vases were broken. Tree Ear was in despair, but he decided to bring one single shard to Kim. Fearing rejection, Tree Ear met Kim and showed him the single shard. Surprisingly, Kim said, “I say it of this one. And the inlay work…remarkable, I am assigning him a commission.” When Tree Ear returned to Min’s, he heard that his sincere friend crane man had died in an accident. His sorrow was so deep that Tree Ear couldn’t do anything, but Min insisted that Tree Ear continue his work. Eventually, Min’s family decided to adopt Tree Ear as their son and gave him a new name, Hyung-pil. The name shared a syllable with Min’s late son, Hyung-gu. Finally, Tree Ear’s dream had come true.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

As a Newbery Award winning book, the author tried to incorporate her understanding of the Koryo era and celadon pottery into the book. This unabridged cassette format has three tapes, and is read by Graeme Malcolm. Although he tried to keep an exact pronunciation of some Korean words such as ‘jiggeh’ and ‘Ajima,’ and change tones in conversation parts, the rate of his reading is somewhat fast. In addition, there are no sound effects during the reading except the first and closing parts started with Korean traditional music including a ‘Gayageum’ which is a twelve-stringed Korean harp. Compared with the book, I recognized the audio book needs to be more focused on reading. The quality of these cassettes was not good so I had to stop and go back to the part I couldn’t understand. However, as a Korean, I was really impressed with Linda’s explanation of Koryo celadon pottery and information about life and society in Korea during the Koryo era. This book is an impressive story of an orphan boy who overcame his adversities to become a great potter. This book is a great source to introduce Korean culture and history to children.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Publishers Weekly (March 10, 2003)

In a starred review of this Newbery Medal winner, PW wrote, "The author molds a moving tribute to perseverance and creativity in this finely etched novel set in mid- to late-12th-century Korea. Readers will not soon forget these characters or their sacrifices." Ages 10-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Horn Book Guide (October 1, 2001)

Tree-ear, a twelfth-century Korean boy, wants desperately to become a potter of celadon ware like the revered and talented potter Min. Though homeless and orphaned, Tree-ear wins the approval of Min, eventually becoming an indispensable apprentice to him. While the characters are somewhat flat and the plot slow, Park's story is alive with fascinating information about life and art in ancient Korea. Copyright 2001 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.


CONNECTIONS

*Online Quiz after reading ‘A Single Shard’
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes21/lspark/Shard.html

*Internet resources about celadon pottery
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
www.metmuseum.org/explore/korea/gallery.html
KoreaInfogate
www.koreainfogate.com/beautykorea/special/celadon.asp

*Additional reading lists
Whelan, Gloria. Homeless Bird. ISBN: 0-7862-4060-1
Park, Linda Sue. The Kite Fighters. ISBN: 0-440-41813-5
McCaughrean, Gerald. The Kite Rider. ISBN: 0-06-441091-9
Choi, Sook Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. ISBN: 0-8335-9794-9

ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Taylor, Mildred D. 2001. ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY. Read by Lynne Thigpen. NewYork: Random House, ISBN: 0-8072-1608-9 Reading level: age 8 to 12

PLOT SUMMARY

This story is about a family in the North during World War II and the beginning of the civil rights movement. The title, ‘Roll of thunder, Hear my cry,’ originated from the song the author sang for his father. This book is based on a story from his father, and relatives. Cassie Logan lived with her brothers, Stacey, Little Man, and Christopher-John, grandmother, and their parents on a farm in Mississippi. The Rogan family was African-American, Papa worked on the railroad to pay taxes and a mortgage on the land they owned. Although they are very independent and strong love-bonded family, they endure severe racism and discrimination from white neighbors. Even schools were separated for white and black people, respectively. Thus, Jefferson Davis County School was for the white, and The Great Faith Elementary and Secondary school was for the black. And, Jefferson Davis School had a school bus for children, but the great Faith school didn’t. One day, some guys at Wallace store lynched and even killed some black people. With the help of Mr. Jamison who is a nice white lawyer, the Logan family decided to boycott the Wallace store, and use Vicksburg store instead. With this boycott, the Logan family experienced many disadvantages. Ma got fired from the school, and Granger threatened Pa to get the land back and tried a lot different ways to do so. One day, Pa was attacked and his leg was broken. Meanwhile, T.J. has made friends with RW and Melvin, and began to steal and cheat. T.J. was also involved when RW and Melvin went into Mr. Barnett’s store to steal a pearl-handled pistol. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett got injured by RW and Melvin, when they witnessed the stealing. When Pa heard about this, and about to leave to check what was going on, Ma saw the cotton field has caught fire. After all, RW and Melvin charged all the faults to T.J. and, although Mr. Jamison tried to defend him, they heard Jim Lee Barnett died with severe injury. And, Stacey’s question, “Papa, could he….could he die?” predicted a tragedy.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Unabridged version of this book has six CDs. The book is read by Lynne Thigpen in a first person narrative and she tried to keep clear pronunciation in an appropriate speed. There were no sound effects or background music. Compared with the book, this audio book has a merit in that we can select a chapter to read and find the part we already read. This story has many incredible historical events, and the book would be a better source to stimulate children’s imagination by drawing the scenes into their minds. After chapter twelve, the author wrote the foreword and sang ‘roll of thunder hear my cry’ provided in the book. In the foreword, the author said “I wanted readers to know this family, based upon my own, and I wanted them to feel akin to them and to walk their shoes.” He also said “I have had to be honest with myself in the telling of all my stories, I realized I must be true to the feelings of the people about whom I write, and I must be true to the stories told.” A good historical fiction story must make the historical period come to life, and Mildred Taylor did.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Booklist (March 1, 1988)

Gr. 5-9. In the midst of the Depression, a black family struggles to keep their land and cope with racial prejudices in their Mississippi neighborhood. Other books based on the author's family include Song in the Trees, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, The Gold Cadillac, and The Friendship.

Horn Book Guide (October 1, 2001)

This twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the Newbery Medal book and second novel in the Logan family saga contains a new foreword by Mildred Taylor. Copyright 2001 of The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

CONNECTIONS

*About Mildred. D. Taylor
http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/taylor_mildred/

*Discussion questions
What kinds of conflicts are appeared in this story?
How can the white and black people treated differently?

* Suggested Essay Questions
http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/thunder/questions.html

THE MIDWIFE’S APPRENTICE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cushman, Karen. 1996. THE MIDWIFE’S APPRENTICE. Read by Jenny Sterlin. Prince Frederick, MD; Recorded Books, ISBN: 1-4025-2320-3 Reading level: age 12 up

PLOT SUMMARY

A young girl named Brat is a main character. She is an orphan, found in a dung heap by Jane Sharp, a village midwife. She called Brat Beetle and Beetle became Jane’s assistant. Beetle worked for Jane to get food. Everyone in the village teased Beetle, and she had no friends. One day, she found a stray cat and became friends with it. Beetle was shocked to watch the delivery of a baby from Miller’s wife. After that, the midwife called Beetle ‘Brainless brat’ and ‘Clodpole’ and ‘Good-for-Nothing.’ When she visited the Saint Swithin’s Day Fair for the midwife, Beetle was treated with a respect and adopted new name, ‘Alyce.’ As time went by, Alyce gained confidence and was accustomed to helping the midwife. When Alyce succeeded in helping Bailiff’s wife to deliver a baby by herself, she was proud. One day, Alyce was asked to deliver Emma’s baby, but she failed because it was very difficult. Alyce felt very frustrated, and ran away with her cat. When she arrived at Inn, Alyce thought she couldn’t return to the village. She worked there for food, and met a renowned scholar, Magister Reese. He taught Alyce how to read. Finally, Alyce realized what she really wanted and returned to Jane’s village.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Narrated in the third person, this audio book consists of 3 CDs with sixteen chapters, and is unabridged. The narrator, Jenny Sterlin, is a native Englishwoman. Although there are no sound effects, readers may feel the medieval England mood with detailed description provided. The book offers a delicate and vivid description about the historical background and events. In this sense, the author did a good job. Also, this book shows how an orphan girl overcame her external adversities and internal conflicts.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Publishers Weekly (August 19, 1996)

In reviewing this 1996 Newbery winner, PW said that Cushman "has an almost unrivaled ability to build atmosphere, and her evocation of a medieval village, if not scholarly in its authenticity, is supremely colorful and pungent." Ages 8-12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly (February 27, 1995)

Having focused on a well-born young heroine in her Newbery Honor debut novel, Catherine, Called Birdy, Cushman returns to a similar medieval English setting, this time to imagine how the other half lived. The strengths of this new, relatively brief novel match those of its predecessor: Cushman has an almost unrivaled ability to build atmosphere, and her evocation of a medieval village, if not scholarly in its authenticity, is supremely colorful and pungent. The protagonist here first appears asleep in a heap of dung; the ``rotting and moiling'' of the refuse give forth heat enough to compensate for the stench. Homeless and nameless, she can remember no time when she did not wander from village to village. She is rescued from the dung heap by a sharp-tongued local midwife, who feeds her in exchange for work. Gradually the girl forges an identity for herself and learns some timeless truths. Some of the characterizations lack consistency (particularly that of the midwife), the plot depends on a few too many conveniences and the development of the themes seems hurried풺ut no matter. The force of the ambience produces more than enough momentum to propel the reader from start to finish in a single happy sitting. Ages 12-up. (Mar.)


CONNECTIONS

*Discussion questions
http://mrcoward.com/slcusd/midwifesq.html

*Other books of Middle ages.
Cushman, Karen. Catherine, called Birdy. ISBN: 0-7587-0246-9
Southern, W.R. The making of the Middle Ages ISBN: 0-7581-0032-9
Huizinga, Johan. The autumn of the Middle Ages. ISBN: 0-226-35994-8
Willis, Connie. Doomsday book. ISBN: 0-613-92255-7