Book Club Party: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

On April 14, 2012, we celebrated A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. We read this for our night time family read aloud a couple of months ago. Coconut is very artistic and loves to make things with clay (especially at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival) so she called dibs on the party for this book.  We read books and talked about something we really want to be good at  . . . just like Tree-ear. The children (we invited boys this time!) and their mothers brought objects to represent something they liked about the story. Then we parceled out clay and the children got creative. We had rice with a spicey Korean sauce on the side and Aerie made Chinese food style cupcakes (with noodles and broccoli and fortune cookies on top . . . all made from frosting and candy.) 

One funny moment: After I had been reading for about 40 minutes, I suddenly remembered that the rice  on the stovetop had finished cooking over an hour before, but in my rush to get ready, I had forgotten about it! I must have had a terrible look on my face in the middle of book, because the mothers said, "What??!! What is it?" Someone had turned off the stovetop, though and saved the day. The rice wasn't fabulous, but at least it was edible. (Another reason why I am not the main cook in my home!) 

As the children get older, it is getting a bit harder for me to find picture books with connections . . . but the children always amaze me with their insights. 

We read: 

This is one of my FAVORITE books of all time. I have yet to read it aloud without getting "chokey".  Heather Henson tells the story inspired by the "Pack Horse Librarians" in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. The connection? The book woman does hard things and keeps her commitments, even when things seem almost pointless. And, she is brave, just like Tree-ear. 

Willoughby discovers a lion on a rock at his new house. The lion can grant him ten wishes, but can only return home if Willoughby wishes for the "most wonderful thing." After nine (really amazing) wishes, the lion is still on the rock, but Willoughby finally wishes for the most wonderful thing . . .a true friend.  Crane Man and Tree-ear are true friends. 

We also read Basho and the Fox, a fun story about a poet who tries to impress a fox with his amazing haiku. The fox always shoots him down . . . the poems are nothing compared to what the fox poets can create. Basho's final poem is about a fox, and is declared amazing, simply because it has a fox in it! The connection is the fox that kept Crane Man from entering the monastery. 

Poor Ima Bean was "just trying to help" but everything goes wrong. She is all set to run away, when she is reminded of something special about her family . . . "In my family, your always family . . . even when you goof". The connection? Things went wrong for Tree-ear, but he kept going and ended up with a family. 

Poems:

Foxes from The Llama Who Had No Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman

Trees by Joyce Kilmer

A Few More Books I Wanted to Read:

 

 (In English it is called "You and Me", but apparently Amazon doesn't carry it in English anymore. Sad, it is such a treasured book in our family!) 

(Our happy readers show off their artistic endeavors!)

Sneak Peek: Coconut's next book club will be The Year the Circus Came to Town by Lawrence Yep