A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

The language drew me. Delicate trickles of thought that grew into streams of showing so that the gentleness of the relationships were clear. Learning without condescension about new words like "jiggeh" which is apparently a backpack "The farmer squatted to don the jiggeh." (5) The words are musical and precise creating interest in the way the character will be developed. There is no negative edge anywhere in this book. Although Tree-ear is an orphan and mentored by Crane-man who shares his life under the bridge, although they both live hand to mouth sometimes going through a refuse heap for food for dinner, there is no worry, anger or frustration about their life. Tree-ear is respectful, considerate and dignified in his carriage at all points in the story...and basically at peace. It's hard to believe he is an adolescent. He listens to Crane-man's words of wisdom and applies them over and over. Although he is straightforward in the maxims he speaks, I did not feel as if I was being told what to think. For example the first one which I was to see several times as the young man makes choices was "Work gives a man dignity, stealing takes it away." (6)

Whenever they discuss what has happened or speculate about what will be, Crane-man and Tree-ear always share and talk through every situation. It is this gentle and approachable conversation that governs the insights and decisions in the book. At that time in history, usually people who had no home went to the monastery and were taken care of by the monks. However, these two are different, and as the book says, "surely such individuals have existed in every age and society." (149) The book, however is not about their dwellingplace, but about their characters and how, because of who they are and how they are, they are allowed to become what they will be. Tree-ear has a fascination with pottery and chooses to watch a master potter who always works outside his home and therefore can be seen, although most potters of the time guarded the secrets of their work carefully. So, he hides and watches. When he had a chance, he snuck up when the potter was gone, to look more closely and makes the mistake of breaking a piece. Willingly, he works off the mistake and then stays doing whatever he is asked to do for a bowl of rice hoping above hope that he will be allowed to learn. He learns much about the process by doing hard work with no praise or encouragement from the potter, finally realizing that the potter is so bitter over the loss of his own son, that he will never teach him how to throw pots. He is after all an orphan, not a son.

As Crane-man senses his disappointment, and they talk about it, several insights struck me. "...a well-kept tradition can be stronger than law" ..."My friend, the same wind that blows one door shut often blows another open." (97) Those things are deep, and Tree-ear is one who thinks about what he is told a lot, "preferred puzzling over them to being told what they meant."
(98) His heart goes out of his work until he realizes that he can mold clay himself into figures without a wheel. And isn't that just the way it is. Our expectations of good can sometimes control out attitudes. And sometimes, it takes a bit of time before we realize that those expectations are not justified, just wishful thinking. By the end of the book, he has had to understand that there is more courage in living and walking through disappointment than in just jumping to their death. There is much more to the story than just the beginning which I shared, but too much to tell here. But, because of that journey toward courage, by the end of the book his hopes are realized although his friend is gone, and the reader is left with a sense of hope and completion.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the book, but it is one I've had on my shelf for a long time. It was not a bang 'em up adventure. I don't think it would have won the award if it was, no matter the beauty of the language because the gentle, persistent points of growth would have been lost.
I kept awaiting dramatic action, but I'm not disappointed it wasn't there. Wow.