This month's book reviews

A homeless boy in twelfth century
Korea wants to be a pottery maker

Tree-ear was a penniless orphan who lived under a bridge in a small Korean town. He was named "Tree-ear" after a kind of mushroom that grew out of old fallen trees without anyone knowing where they came from. Tree-ear shared his under-a-bridge shelter with an older homeless person named Crane-man. Crane-man was so named because he had only one complete leg that he could stand on. The two scavenged for food out of garbage dumps and shared what they found with each other. Both were too proud to beg and too honest to steal.

The town was a pottery town. It was famous for its unusual clay deposits which made it possible for its potters to make vases and pots that were in demand all over Asia. One potter, named Min, made pottery that was more beautiful than any of the other craftsman. Tree-ear liked to hide in the bushes around Min's workplace and watch the old potter turn his pottery on his wheel. Tree-ear longed to try his own hand at pottery making.

Once, when Min seemed to be gone, Tree-ear slipped into the workplace to look at some items that were on shelves. Accidentally, he broke one piece. While Tree-ear was trying to figure out what to do, Min appeared and charged him with trying to steal his work. Tree-ear pleaded his innocence and offered to work for nine days helping the potter in order to pay for the broken piece. Grumpily, Min accepted the offer.

Min sent Tree-ear to the forest to collect wood for the furnace used to heat the kiln. Its was hard and lonely work. Then Tree-ear was given other jobs to do. At the end of the nine days, he asked if he could continue to work for the potter. Min reluctantly agreed. Min's wife seemed to be happy that her husband had a new helper. She was much nicer to Tree-ear than Min was.

One day, an announcement was made that the Emperor's emissary was coming to town and would inspect all the potters' works. He would grant a commission from the royal court to the best potter. Such a commission would make the winning potter much wealth and lead to his becoming famous all over the empire.

Can the lowly Tree-ear in any kind of way help his master become the winner of the Emperor's commission? Would Min ever accept him as worthy of learning the pottery trade and, someday, take over the aging Min's work? The reader's route to finding these answers is one filled with adventure and surprises.

 

A pioneer girl fights asthma at a time
when little is known about the disease

Ten-year-old Lizzy Baker loved living with her family in the log cabin home on their small farm. They had all traveled with their belongings on a covered wagon from Pennsylvania to land just west of Virginia. For the past four years, Lizzy had lived with her two sisters, Hezzy, twelve, and Nan, who was eight. Their father was a farmer. Their mother supplemented the family income by weaving cloth and making blankets and articles of clothing to sell.

Each fall, when the pollen was heavy in the air, Lizzy suffered from attacks of asthma. During these attacks, Lizzy found it difficult to breathe and she and her family feared each time that she would not recover. When the heavy frosts came in early winter, Lizzy would return to her normal health again. Each year, the asthma attacks were getting worse.

When she was ten, her family took her into the nearest town to be seen by a doctor. His treatment was costly and Lizzy felt even worse after following his recommendations. An elderly mid-wife, named Ma Silver, who delivered babies for the farm women, was able to help ease some of Lizzy's symptoms.

Each fall, the Baker family and their concerned neighbors gathered round hoping that the active and much-loved Lizzy would survive until the frost came. There was no effective way known to treat asthma in those days. There were rumors that living close to the sea and breathing sea air did help some people with asthma to live better lives. But that did not seem to be possible for Lizzy, whose family was just managing to survive on their small farm.

Mr. Beaumont, a well-to-do plantation owner from Charleston moved into an abandoned neighboring cabin. He was there temporarily on a land-buying trip. He brought his wife, Miss Sarah, and son, William, with him along with a couple of slaves. The dress and manners of these gentry were very much in contrast to the customs of the farm families living there on the frontier.

How the wealthy Beaumont family and the hardworking but poor Baker family became acquainted makes up a good part of the plot. Can the relationship of these two families have some bearing on keeping Lizzy alive and healthy? In reading this interesting story, a reader learns a lot about frontier life.

 

What if you wished on a star and your wish came true?

Tollivers' Hollow was just a family farm like a number of other small farms in the surrounding mountain area. The Tolliver family included Louise, her younger brother Willie, and their mom, Mrs. Tolliver. The father, Jack Tolliver, had mysteriously disappeared seven years earlier. Of course, in naming the family you have to include Molly Cow, their milk cow, and the old sow with all her piglets. The farm was in the shadow of Old Giant, the mountain, and some people in the area thought the land might be a little haunted.

Willie liked to bug his sister, Louise. One evening when Louise was talking about wishing on a star, Willie laughed at her. After poking fun at her star watching, he went off to feed the pigs. Louise said to him, "You are a pig!" and went on looking at the evening star. "Star light, star bright, first star I've seen tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight." Louise went on to milk the cow and thought no more about it.

A little later, when Willie failed to show up for supper, Mrs Tolliver asked Louise if she knew where Willie was. Of course she didn't but she went out and called Willie's name several times. There was no response other than an owl hooting up in the trees. Next morning, Willie was still missing. Mrs. Tolliver was worried and called the sheriff to report the missing boy. Interestingly, when the sheriff started looking around the farm, he noticed a large white pig running around. No one had seen the pig before. There was no sign of Willie.

By now you've probably guessed what happened to Willie. It took Louise a while before she guessed the terrible truth. With her wish she had turned her brother into a pig! To make things worse, the sheriff and his brother were talking about having a town barbecue. The pig that nobody recognized was to be the main attraction!

The rest of the story is concerned with how Louise tries to undue the damage she has done with her unusual powers. Does she only get three wishes? Are there other magical things she might have to do? Can she save poor Willie in time? Could her father's mysterious disappearance be related to these strange goings on? You need to read the book to find out.

 

A book about a horse that's not really a horse

Molly Moore lives in Tennessee, "practically the horse capital of the whole world." But she doesn't have a horse! Her neighbor, Freddy Westover, has a beautiful Tennessee Walking Horse named Strolling Joe. But will he let Molly ride it? Nooo. Occasionally, Molly gets to ride Freddie's old mare, Della, who can hardly move because of arthritis.

But, for Molly a miracle happens. On her tenth birthday, her father takes her to a horse sale at Lawton's stock farm on Duck River near Williamsport. He has sold an old tractor to an antique dealer for twice its value. He said Molly could have half of the money to buy a horse for herself at the auction. Molly is so excited! She can just see the beautiful young colt she intends to buy. Unfortunately, her father only had $70.00 to spend on a horse and the first colt they bid on sold for $150.00.

By the time horse number 13 came up for bidding, Molly thought it was no use. The $70.00 just wasn't going to be enough. The last horse was a gaunt sorrel mare.

Molly's dad checked the mare's teeth and went back into the small group of bidders still left at the sale. One laughing bidder said, "I'll bid $25.00 for the flea-bitten sorrel." The rest of the crowd stayed silent. The auctioneer asked, "who'll offer $70.00?" Molly covered her face with her hands when her dad nodded. She had told everybody at school she was going to get an elegant young racehorse for her birthday. Instead, she was getting a skinny, old mare.

When they loaded the mare into the trailer and started home, Molly's dad was excited. He thought they had bought a well-bred horse that could be fattened up and would make a good riding horse for Molly. Molly worked hard at not showing how disappointed she really was.

It turns out that Molly's dad was only partly correct. The mare did start to look better with good food and good care. She was smart and had a good disposition too. But Molly, her dad, and everybody else were in for a big surprise! To find out what kind of ending this horse story has, you need to read Marguerite Henry's "Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley." You'll be as surprised as anyone at how Molly ends up with a Tennessee champion "horse that's not a horse."