Title: A Single Shard
Author: Linda Sue Park
Copyright: 2011
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Age Level: 9-12 and up
Reading Levels:
o Fountas & Pinnell – U Fiction
o Lexile – 920
o Accelerated Reader – 6.6
Pages: 168 (paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Historical FictionSet in a small village on the west coast of Korea, mid-to late twelfth century
Enter into the world of Tree-ear, Crane-man, and Min “the tortoise potter!”
“Work gives a man dignity, stealing takes it away”
“Did a good deed balance a bad one?”
“…when a monk came to fetch you a few months later, you would not leave. You clung to my good leg like a monkey to a tree, not crying but not letting go, either! The monk went away. You stayed.” – from A Single Shard
Suggested delivery Read aloud, small group read, independent read
Links:
· Author’s Website
· Book and Author Literature Study Guide
- Multiple Study Guide links
- Publisher’s website
- YouTube trailer for A Single Shard – Pre-Reading/Initiation
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QjGvDPZ__g
- YouTube video on Linda Sue Park – Pre/Post Reading/Author Study
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrD_rNlMPwc&feature=related
3 teaching suggestions - using the book with students in grades 4-6
1. Study of 12th Century Korean culture with a comparison of modern day Korea or even a comparison of the apprentice/master done in a two voice poem
2. Pottery as an art form, especially celadon, can be discussed and studied with an added field trip to a pottery studio or done in Art class at school
3. Character study/character traits – perseverance, honesty, courageous, loyal, respectful…
Key Vocabulary:
1. protruded
2. rubbish (heaps)
3. glean
4. oblivious
5. vessel
6. emissary
7. ruefully
8. (royal) commission
9. glaze
10. beckoning
Before Reading Strategy: Anticipation Guide/ Vocabulary Self-Awareness/Read-Alouds
During Reading Strategy: Paired-Partner Reading/Word hunts
After Reading Strategy: Question the Author/Poem – Haiku, Two-Voice Poem, Create Voki Character/s
A writing activity that requires the students to respond to the text to demonstrate inferential comprehension - write a letter to Tree-ear as a friend and tell him which qualities you admire most about him and cite your reasons using the text.
Awards, Reviews, Honors or Mentions:
- 2002 Newbery Award Winner
- Booklist Starred Review
- Kirkus Starred Review
- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
- School Library Journal Starred Review
- 2002 ALA Best Books For Young Adults
- 2002 ALA Notable Books For Children
- 2001 Booklist Editors' Choice
- 2001 School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year
- 2001 Capitol Choices Selection
- 2001 New York Public Library, 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
- 2004 Sequoyah Book Award (OK)
- 2006 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award Master List (IL)
Other Books by the Author or that may follow:
o Seesaw Girl, 1999
o The Kite Fighters, 2000
o When My Name Was Keoke, 2002
o Project Mulberry, 2005
o Archer’s Quest, 2006
o Keeping Score, 2008
o A Long Walk to Water: based on a true story, 2010
Book Collaboration
o Click by Arthur A. Levine, 2007
o The 39 Clues: Storm Warning (Book Nine), 2010
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