One day while examining a ceramic box in the potter’s workshop, Tree-ear is startled and drops it. Thirteen-year-old Tree-ear loved to watch an older potter at the wheel and see the pieces he made. Together they foraged for food, told stories, and kept each other company. He lived under a bridge with Crain-man, who had taken him in as a toddler. Read moreĪ long long time ago in a potters’ village in Korea there lived an orphan named Tree-ear. The novel was awarded the Newbery Medal for excellence in Children’s Literature. The Author Notes expand on the culture and the art, and sent me to Google to look up the Thousand Cranes vase. I learned much about celadon pottery, and particularly the uniqueness of the inlay process. The cultural barriers to truly bringing him on as an apprentice were as shocking to Tree-Ear as they were to this reader. I also really appreciated the complex relationship of Tree-Ear to his mentor Min, and to Min’s wife, Ajima. I love their relationship, how they care for one another, and give to one another so selflessly. Park gives us a wonderful cast of characters, starting with the main character, Tree-Ear, an orphan who wound up in the care of the homeless Crane-man, who was crippled from birth and lived under a bridge.

This middle-grade novel is a beautiful introduction to the Korean culture, as well as to the art of pottery.

His big chance comes when he begins to work for the master potter Min, and a competition for a royal commission. In 12th-century Korea the orphan Tree-Ear longs to become a potter and learn the art of creating the much-sought exquisite celadon pottery his village is known for.

A single shard online book