40 Fun Facts About A Single Shard

In A Single Shard, the orphan Tree-ear is named after what kind of growth found on tree trunks?

A mushroom that sprouts with no parent seed struck Crane-man as a fitting name for a boy with no parents. The tree ear is a real edible fungus, sold dried in Asian markets.

In A Single Shard, where do the orphan Tree-ear and his guardian Crane-man make their home in the warm months?

Under a bridge is where Crane-man took the boy in as a toddler, and the two have shared it for about ten years. They get by on foraged food and scraps.

Which top American children's book prize did Linda Sue Park become the first Korean American to win, for A Single Shard?

The Newbery Medal goes each year to the most distinguished American children's book. It was only Park's third novel, and she said the story simply poured out of her.

In A Single Shard, which piece of the potter Min's work does Tree-ear break when Min startles him in the yard?

A nested box, plain outside with smaller boxes fitted inside, slips from his hands and shatters. It was three days' work for Min, and Tree-ear pays for it with nine days of labor.

In A Single Shard, which chore fills the nine days Tree-ear works for Min to repay his debt?

Chopping wood for the kiln the village potters share is all Min asks of him. Tree-ear had hoped to learn the craft; instead he aches and bleeds until he gets used to the work.

In A Single Shard, what do two robbers do with the vases Tree-ear is carrying?

The robbers hurl them off a cliff after taking his coins, and Tree-ear scrambles down to find both smashed. One has broken into pieces large enough for him to save a fragment.

In A Single Shard, why is the guardian who raises the orphan Tree-ear known as Crane-man?

He stands on one leg, like the bird, because he was born with a twisted foot and calf. He walks with a crutch, yet he has kept the boy fed for years.

The celadon pottery at the heart of A Single Shard is prized above all for a glaze of which color?

Jade green is the color Korean potters of the period were famed for, and they called it bisaek. Their celadon is counted among the finest ceramics the country has produced.

In the opening chapter of A Single Shard, what is spilling from a farmer's load as Tree-ear follows him?

Rice trickles out behind the farmer, and hungry Tree-ear hesitates before calling out. The grateful man lets him keep what fell, but the boy later wonders whether waiting was honest.

In A Single Shard, how does the royal emissary send Tree-ear home after seeing the fragment of Min's vase?

Aboard a ship, with safe passage arranged, Tree-ear is spared the long walk back. The fragment alone wins Min the commission, though the emissary's assistant can hardly believe it.

In A Single Shard, where do Tree-ear and Crane-man shelter in the coldest part of winter?

A pit in the ground, a makeshift vegetable store, is their winter quarters. The pair sleep in the open the rest of the year and eat what they can forage.

In A Single Shard, what does Min's kind wife secretly do each day once Tree-ear hides half his lunch for Crane-man?

She refills his bowl while he is off working, so both he and Crane-man can eat. She never mentions it, which spares the pride of a boy taught never to beg.

In A Single Shard, which rival potter wins the first royal commission with his new inlaid designs?

Kang keeps his discovery hidden until the emissary's visit, and it wins him the work. Min loses out because his own inlaid pieces come out of the kiln spoiled.

In A Single Shard, which two colors of slip does Tree-ear see spill when a secretive rival potter trips?

Red and white slip, clay thinned until it is half liquid, gives away the secret: the rival is filling carved designs with color. Tree-ear spies on his shed at night to be sure.

In A Single Shard, where do the village potters set up stalls to show their work to the royal emissary?

On the beach, every potter lays out his best pieces, and Min's stall is the smallest of all. Even so, his is one of the few displays the emissary lingers over.

In A Single Shard, which fruit's shape, used by the potter Min, pleases the visiting royal emissary?

A melon with ribbed sides was the model, and Min later makes his samples for the capital in the same shape. Park pictured a yellow oval Korean melon with pumpkin-like lines, not a watermelon.

In A Single Shard, what flaw from the firing makes Min smash his first batch of inlaid pieces?

Brown stains mar the glaze of every piece, the oxidation that all the village potters dread and cannot predict. Min destroys the lot and has nothing new to show the emissary.

In A Single Shard, why does Min say he will not teach Tree-ear to throw pots?

The trade passes to sons, by a village tradition that began as a law to keep potters in the craft. Min's only child died at about Tree-ear's age, and the loss still weighs on him.

In A Single Shard, why does Tree-ear hold back from telling Min about a rival potter's secret inlay technique?

It felt like stealing to pass on an idea he had only seen by spying. He keeps quiet until after the emissary's visit, then tells Min what he saw.

In A Single Shard, what kills Crane-man while Tree-ear is away on the journey to Songdo?

A plunge into cold water kills him after an accident with a farmer's cart at the crossing where he and the boy had lived. Tree-ear hears the news from Min on the day he returns in triumph.

In A Single Shard, what new name do Min and his wife give Tree-ear when they take him into their home?

Hyung-pil shares a syllable with Hyung-gu, the couple's dead child, as the names of Korean siblings often do. The gift of a name tells Tree-ear he finally has a family.

In A Single Shard, which animal does Tree-ear mold from clay as a parting gift for Crane-man?

A monkey smaller than his palm, a plain little figure, is his farewell present. Barred from the wheel, Tree-ear had realised he could still model clay by hand.

In A Single Shard, which animal, said to work evil magic, terrifies Tree-ear on the road to Songdo?

A fox, in the folklore Tree-ear grew up with, is cunning enough to lead a man to ruin. He stays beside Min's vases anyway, though Crane-man himself once ran from one.

In A Single Shard, Tree-ear climbs the Rock of the Falling Flowers, a famous landmark of which city?

Puyo, today's Buyeo, was a royal capital centuries before Tree-ear's time. Koreans call the real ledge Nak'waam, and it stands high above the river that loops around the city.

In A Single Shard, legend says who leapt from the Rock of the Falling Flowers to escape an invading army?

Court ladies of a kingdom overrun in 660 are said to have jumped to the river rather than be captured. A pavilion now marks the spot in their memory.

In A Single Shard, what is the jiggeh that Min gives Tree-ear for carrying the vases to Songdo?

A backpack built on a timber frame, the jiggeh let Korean farmers carry heavy loads on foot. American soldiers in the Korean War nicknamed it the A-frame for its shape.

In A Single Shard, what material does Crane-man weave into a padded container to protect Min's vases?

Straw is Crane-man's craft: he spends months weaving mats and baskets from it. Tree-ear suggests him for the job when Min worries the vases will not be cushioned well enough.

In A Single Shard, what does Crane-man make for Tree-ear, only to find the fast-growing boy can no longer wear them?

Sandals are what he makes, but Tree-ear has grown so quickly that they no longer fit when finished. Soon after, Min's wife brings the boy a jacket and pants.

In A Single Shard, besides foraging in the forest, where does Tree-ear hunt for scraps of food?

Rubbish heaps in a prosperous potters' village offer richer pickings than most, and Tree-ear checks them often. Even so, Crane-man has taught him never to beg.

The Thousand Cranes Vase that inspired A Single Shard shows its inlaid birds flying among medallions and what else?

Clouds drift between the roundels on the real vase, a twelfth-century work counted among South Korea's national treasures. The novel's ending imagines that a grown Tree-ear made it.

In A Single Shard, behind which kind of tree does Tree-ear hide to watch Min throw pots?

A paulownia with low branches screens him while Min works in the open yard. Min is confident enough in his skill to work where he can be seen.

In A Single Shard, which flowers does Tree-ear watch a rival potter carve into a vase late at night?

Chrysanthemums are cut into the clay and the hollows packed with colored slip. Later Tree-ear spots the same flowers on a market stall far from home.

In A Single Shard, where was the orphaned toddler Tree-ear meant to be taken once his stay with Crane-man ended?

A monastery was the plan, but when the monks came for him the little boy refused to leave Crane-man. He had been brought to the village to find a relative who could not be traced.

In A Single Shard, which seaside potters' village on Korea's west coast is home to Tree-ear and Min?

Ch'ulp'o is so renowned for celadon that its potters once made the roof tiles of the royal palace, which Tree-ear stops to stare at in Songdo.

Songdo, the royal capital Tree-ear walks to in A Single Shard, is known today as which North Korean city?

Kaesong was called Songdo while it served as the kingdom's capital, and it prospered on its ginseng. The remains of the former royal palace still lie there.

A Single Shard takes place during which Korean dynasty, whose potters perfected celadon?

Goryeo, the source of the name Korea, ruled from 918 to 1392. Its potters turned techniques learned from China into a style of their own by the twelfth century, and their inlaid celadon was made nowhere else.

Which novel, set in seventeenth-century Korea, did A Single Shard author Linda Sue Park publish first?

Seesaw Girl follows a girl of twelve who may not leave her family's walled home. Park's mother once built a Korean seesaw, on which players jump rather than sit, in the family's backyard.

In A Single Shard, why does Min not carry his own inlaid samples to the royal emissary in Songdo?

He feels too old for a journey of many days on foot, and says so to the emissary. Tree-ear, who overhears, offers to make the trip in his place.

What form of verse was the first poem A Single Shard author Linda Sue Park published, at age nine?

A haiku earned her one dollar from a magazine called Trailblazer. She gave the check to her father for Christmas, and he framed it.

In which sport did A Single Shard author Linda Sue Park compete for Stanford University as a student?

Gymnastics shared her college years with an English degree, which she chose so she could read and write all the time. She did not try fiction until her mid-thirties.