Great Middle Grade Reads discussion

Another Newbery Medal winner, A Single Shard, topped our poll this month. Here's the GoodReads Description:

Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o, a potters’ village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter’s craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated–until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min’s irascible temper, and his own ignorance. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself–even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min’s work in the hope of a royal commission.

Got the last copy of this at Barnes & Noble. I thought it was interesting that they had the author's Newbery Award Winning speech in the beginning of the book. I read the speech and it does have some slight spoilers in it, but it was interesting. Looking forward to reading the rest of the book.

We managed to pick the one book on the list that I already read! Oh well. I probably don't have time this month anyway :p

I'm excited, especially since I recently made a goal to track down all the Newbery Award Winners I haven't read yet.

Now, hopefully I can find a copy.

V. wrote: "I'm excited, especially since I recently made a goal to track down all the Newbery Award Winners I haven't read yet.

Now, hopefully I can find a copy."

It's not in your library system? I'm surprised.

I haven't looked yet. Just now found out which book. :)

I was supposed to read that for my YA class in college. It wasn't bad. I liked it.

It's on my nightstand. It looks short, which at this point is a good thing for me. ;)

Done. To be honest, I found it to be typical of classic Newbery winners - it could have won 80 years ago. Nothing enchanted me. Here's a link to the web page so you can see some of the pottery: http://www.lindasuepark.com/books/sin...

Honestly I'm struggling a bit to get through it, even though I loved Linda Sue Park's other book that I have read. I liked the first few chapters of the book, but now find it just kind of slow and dull. Hopefully it will pick up soon and catch my interest again.

I thought the art was intriguing (thanks for the link, Cheryl) but did think the title gave away a little too much of the story.

Linda Sue Park has a nice, straightforward storytelling style and this is an intriguing glimpse into the history of Linda's own family culture. (She is Korean-American).

Spoiler alert (you might not want to read this post if you haven't finished the book!)

Just finished the book. Overall I thought it was good, but like I said earlier, it did feel a bit boring at times in the middle. I thought the end of the book crammed too much together too fast. I didn't really feel that Crane-man's death got the time and attention it deserved in the book. Rushing that event together with becoming a member of a new family all at once was almost hard to believe and too convenient of an ending.

It did seem that way, I agree, Maranda. But of course the two events are directly connected, and so that's how the ending had to be written, given the story the author wanted to tell.

When Crane-man died, the potter and his wife had a clear path to adopting the boy. They couldn't take Tree-ear away from the old cripple before his death, because that would violate all rules about respecting others' pride and familial affiliations.

Is anyone else still reading this?

I haven't even started. I hope to by the end of the month, but as I read it several years ago it's not a priority.

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Is anyone else still reading this?"

I think you nailed it when you said that it reads a lot like many other Newbery books. I did like the cultural elements, but don't have much to add to the discussion here.

Yeah, I don't regret reading it, but I think I'll return it to the library tomorrow.

Yes, I too enjoyed the cultural part of the story. Not long after reading the book, it so happened that I went to a museum, and found myself appreciating pottery more than I would normally have!

I read it years ago and enjoyed it but this has been a busy month and I don't think I will get to it after all. I do still check in to see who comments here.

What is memorable about it, I wonder... Dixie, Rebecca, what sticks in your minds?

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "What is memorable about it, I wonder... Dixie, Rebecca, what sticks in your minds?"

My husband was a pottery student and we studied in Beijing for a semester, where I loved the Celadon ware we saw everywhere. Now he is a music teacher and I teach Special Ed. but I am also a writer, and not one who has gotten much recognition outside our county, but has gotten a lot of attention within the schools here. So I identified with the sense of being an apprentice but wanting to move beyond that into being recognized as a creative artist in his own right.

Frankly, I don't remember a whole lot, though I remember liking the book. I think I partly liked the idea that even a little piece of one's work can show your quality (and I could write a whole screed about proof-reading forum posts--and putting on my glasses to do it!), but mostly suspect I enjoyed the adventure.

I finished the book this weekend and enjoyed it overall. I only have two main aspects that I didn't like.

First, I found myself hungry for dialogue and excited for the few places that had it. I noticed several places the author could have shown us instead of just telling us and wished she had. I felt like the majority of the book was told through flashbacks. By the end of the book, I wondered if the author intentionally wrote in this style because that is how it feels to live on the streets in solitude.

Second, I really struggled when Tree-ear visited the Rock of the Falling Flowers. Through that entire chapter, I couldn't figure out why it was so important for him to make the stop. Yes, it was historical significant and a beautiful sight but several times I had the thought: something bad is going to happen and he is going to regret it. I wondered why he didn't plan on visiting it on his way back. When he received passage home, I had to assume he expected this from the beginning. Why else would he take the risk before he had completed his task? It just didn't ring true for me.

I thought the author did a great job developing the relationship between Crane-man and Tree-ear. The interactions between Min and his wife with Tree-ear were what I expected from my limited knowledge of Asian cultures. I love historical fiction so I loved reading the Author's Note explaining the history behind the story.

I just finished re-reading A Single Shard. Loved it in 2001, love it now. I'm a sucker for stories about how hard work on something you love can add value to even the poorest of circumstances. And for learning how things are made.

Appreciated the simple, non-flashy prose style and the short length of the book.

When I started this book, this first 7, 8, or 9 chapters were very slow and boring for me. Then, finally the book started becoming more interesting. I rate this book 4 stars. It would have been 5 if not for the slow beginning. :)

When I was transporting donated books for our Friends of the Library book sale, this book was on top of the pile, so I borrowed it and read it again after all. I liked it a lot, maybe in part because it does such a good job of making another culture and another time come to life for me.

JS, I was thinking about what you said about the stop at the Rock of the Falling Flowers while I read, and I decided that it wasn't the visit to the rock that caused the trouble--the bandits could have taken him anywhere. But being on the rock gave him the connection to the story, and that gave him the courage to do what he did. So the author used that well, though I agree that going out of his way was a little out of character. She does address that to some degree.


I also agree that the ending is somewhat rushed, though most of the book has been building to that ending. Certainly we could see it coming in many ways.

I like the style. It reminds me of many books from my childhood, where the tone is less immediate and more of a telling. I suspect that there has been a shift in style in the last [deleted] years, and maybe the Newbery Committee is drawn to the books that speak to that older style?

Loved the author's Newbery acceptance speech, which was in the front of the book.

My edition didn't have the speech -- would love to find a copy of one that does!

M.G. wrote: "My edition didn't have the speech -- would love to find a copy of one that does!"

http://books.google.com/books?id=hjvy...

Rebecca, I agree the visit to the Rock of the Falling Flowers was a great connection to the story and I liked that it showed other ways to have courage. I also appreciated how the author tied things together well. I didn't feel like there were any loose ends.

Thank you Dixie, it's worth reading.

I know the month is over, but I'm going to sneak in my comment. : ) Even though A Single Shard is an enjoyable, well written story with tons of cultural information, I'm not sure about its level of kid appeal.

I agree in many ways, Susan.

By the way, we keep these discussions open for six months, so you are not at all too late!