March 2004     Vol.5 Issue 3

This month's book reviews

A surprisingly adventure-filled story
about a homeless Korean boy

"A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park is set in twelfth-century Korea and the plot revolves around pottery making as an art form. A young reader would be absorbed in the story right away as he or she empathizes with the twelve-year-old homeless orphan who yearns to become a pottery maker. There are many glimpses at human caring and sensitivity as a societal outcast tries to establish an identify for himself in a society that seems cold and heartless.

The name "A Single Shard" is based on the broken piece of pottery that the young hero bravely takes to the emperor's palace to win a commission for his master. The shard was from the intact works that had been intended for the royal viewing. Bandits on the road had destroyed the beautiful pieces and had stopped just short of murdering the frightened boy.

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An involving story about a young girl
living on the early American frontier

"Weaver's Daughter" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is an engrossing story about a ten-year-old girl living on a pioneer farm in the Virginia Territory. The girl's mother just happens to have a talent for weaving cloth and making clothes, blankets, etc out of the cloth she weaves. A young reader is involved quickly into what everyday life must have been like for kids living in a one-room log cabin on the frontier.

Besides insights into everyday frontier life and the craft of weaving, there is a look at the medical practices of those days, and at the societal relationships of those people of means and the small farmers of that era. Of special note is the value placed on literacy in a time when most people were unable to read or write.

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Be careful what you wish for, you just might get your wish

"Wishes, Kisses, and Pigs" by Betsy Hearne deals with the question of what happens if a wish you shouldn't have made actually comes true. This little fantasy is meant to be humorous. The problem is that when a girl accidentally wishes her kid brother into being a pig, and the pig is targeted for a barbecue, some kids might not find it funny. However, through a somewhat convoluted series of actions more or less orchestrated by the conscience stricken sister, the story comes out well in the end.

Entertainment value outweighs any clear cut moral message or messages contained in this frivolous little paperback. If there is any message at all, it might be to not play around with the occult or you might get more than you bargained for.

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The final book by a famous author of horse stories for kids

This little book by Marguerite Henry has just 100 pages. It was published in 1996, and Ms Henry died at 92 years of age in 1997. Three of her earlier books about horses had earned Newbery recognition.

"Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley" is a horse book that ends up being about a "horse that's not a horse." The tired-looking mare that Molly's dad bought at auction for her was pregnant and gave birth to a mule. The young reader of this book finds out a lot about the important role that mules have played in the history of our country.

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