A Single Shard

Third grade students read A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Here are a few reflections from our readers:

Dustin's Reflection:

"This story was about a kid who wanted to be a potter so bad. Tree Ear discovered that he had a special talent for sculpting clay. It made me feel that if Tree Ear could find his special talent, anyone could."

Megan's Reflection:

"Sometimes bad things happen. People who you love so much can go sometime. But you don't have to have everything perfect in life. Tree Ear wasn't perfect, Crane Man wasn't perfect, the broken pot wasn't perfect. Life isn't perfect, but it can be beautiful anyway."

Dorsey's Reflection:

"This book taught me about life in Old Asia. People knew how to make many things. They used masters and apprentices to learn special skills. Children who did not have parents sometimes lived with monks in the mountains. I enjoyed the details of life back then."


Heaven's Reflection:

" I felt many different feelings about A Single Shard. It made me happy at the beginning of the book, but the ending was sad. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about pottery making."

We thought that these were the Three Biggest Ideas in the story:

1. People have different talents.
2. You can do anything you put your mind to.
3. Life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

Our Review:

This is a good book for third graders, definitely. It is a good book for anyone between third and eighth grade. You will learn a lot about people and about life in old Korea from reading this book. Anybody who wants to read a wonderful story will like A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park