Linda Sue Park... Author Study Idea

I attended a reading conference this week, and one of the presenters, Donalyn Miller, talked about how to create lifelong readers.

She explained that one of the things that avid readers do is they make plans. People who read a lot always know what they are going to read next. This is something that we need to teach children how to do so that they are never bored in between reading books that are of interest to them. One of the ways that we can do this is by introducing children to a great author and reading them one book by that author, then encouraging them to read other books by that author. So I took her advice this week, and I read two powerful books by Linda Sue Park.

A Single Shard is the 2002 Newbery award winner. This phenomenal piece of children’s literature follows an orphan boy in 12^th century Korea. His dreams of becoming a potter are dwindling as he apprentices under the toughest, yet most talented, potter Min. I loved this Historical fiction novel for a few reasons:

1.     Tree-Ear, the main character, showed the utmost respect to authority. This is something that is so often not taught and lost in our current culture. I can see lots of great discussions stemming from this.

2.     I learned about a topic which I had started with no interest in… pottery. During this time period, China was the leader in the cutting edge ideas and produced the best pottery. However, in the 12^th century A.D. Korea invented a new idea, and this book shares what that idea was. Very interesting stuff.

3.     Also, it was good for me to get out of just reading American history novels. I want to be well-rounded in what I know. This book was a great introduction into this time period in history.

A Long Walk to Water is also written by Linda Sue Park. It is based on a true story about two children, Nya and Salva. One child lives in present day Sudan and another lived in 1985 Sudan. It parallels their narratives and teaches the reader about the struggles of children living in this war torn, developing country. Both children have experiences that are similar as they walk and search for water to survive every single day. This book reminded me of the blessings that are bestowed on my life because I live in America. The fact that I don’t ever have to worry about having enough water each and every day of my life is more major than I ever realized.