A Single Shard

Infobox Book
name = A Single Shard
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Linda Sue Park
illustrator =
cover_artist = Jean and Mon-sien Tseng
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Historical novel
publisher = Clarion Books
release_date = April 23, 2001
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 152 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-395-97827-0
preceded_by =
followed_by =

A Single Shard is the winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal, awarded for excellence in children's literature. The novel was written by Linda Sue Park, and is set in 12th-century Korea.

Plot summary

The book tells the story of a 12 year old boy named Tree-ear, who is an orphan and lives under a bridge in Ch’ulp’o with Crane-man, a crippled man. Tree-ear always watched potter Min make his pottery. One day when no one was around Tree-ear peeked at potter Min’s work. There were many objects, but only one interested Tree-ear, a rectangular lidded box. It was undecorated on the outside, but what about the inside? Out of curiosity, Tree-ear decides to look inside the box and found five smaller boxes. They fitted perfectly around each other. But then suddenly there was a shout, and Tree-ear was frightened and he dropped the box, which broke. Now he has to work for the potter Min.

One day, an emissary named Kim arrives to hire a potter for a new commission for the palace. While spying on other potters in the village, Tree-ear learns of a newly created technique and must decide if it is ethical to reveal the stolen information to Min. He decides not to but Min does get a chance to demonstrate that he can use the new inlay technique and sends Tree-ear to the emperor with samples of his best work. On the long journey to Songdo, Tree Ear passes through the busy town of Puyo. There, the boy is attacked by robbers, and all of the pots are smashed, leaving him with just a single shard to display his master's skill (hence the book's title "A Single Shard"). He continues his journey, confident that the shard demonstrates that his master is worthy of the commission. The emissary's assistant is about to throw Tree-ear out when Kim inspects the shard. Kim sends Tree-ear back via sea. Tree-ear goes to his master to inform him that Kim (the emissary) likes his work. Unfortunately, after sharing the news, Tree-ear learns Crane-man died. Min decides to adopt Tree-ear and his wife changes his name to Hyung-pil (his dead son was Hyung-gu and Tree-ear's new name shares a syllable, as Korean siblings' names commonly do). Tree-ear is finally able to learn how to make pottery.