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Message from Linda Sue Park
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:27:37 -0600
Linda Sue Park has asked me to forward this message to the CCBC-Net community:
Dear ccbc-net:
I was delighted to receive from Ginny Moore Kruse some of your comments on A SINGLE SHARD. It was especially gratifying to read about the responses of students from Karen Simonetti, Steve Engelfried, and Monica Edinger. I have not yet heard from many young readers and am eager to learn how they feel about the book. I was impressed by Monica's student's perception of the ceramic box as a metaphor, and dazzled by Steve's comparison of Shard's title to that of Father's Arcane Daughter, a book I love! To learn that Karen's student is a
'reluctant reader' and is enjoying the book was very moving to me, for I have been told by some that Shard is one of those books "for avid readers only".
I was fascinated by Christine Hill's comments on the "Rock of the Falling Flowers" section of the book. When I first learned of this story many years ago, I was indeed horrified--an 'American' response, as Christine says. Yet I also knew that those women are considered martyrs in Korean legend, much admired for their act. I confess that as I was writing, I wasn't conscious of trying to ensure that Tree?r was not 'an American boy in Korean dress'--I was simply trying to imagine how one might find such an act admirable. Which is sort of the same thing--but Christine's lucid remarks have made me see this point much more clearly!
Ginny asked me to consider the relationship between Shard and my first two books. I think of the three as similar in that all three are linear narratives written in third person past tense--a very traditional way to tell a story. In retrospect, I believe I chose to do this as a service to both writer and (hopefully) reader. It was enough to have to deal with a setting and subject matter that were so unfamiliar; to use a complicated story structure as well seemed too much. After writing Shard, I did begin to feel a little restless in technical terms, with the result that the next book (When My Name Was Keoko, a World War II story due out in March) is a complete departure!
It is always interesting for an author to hear from readers, "My favorite part was..." So far, the two scenes mentioned most often as
'favorite' have been the first time Tree?r finds his bowl refilled, and the moment when he realizes the clay he is draining needs further work. (One reader described this as "...when Tree Ear finally knew it and then, suddenly, knew that he knew it.") When I am writing, I try to make every scene important in some way--but it is a simple fact that some scenes are more dramatic or climactic or moving than others. It is therefore a genuine thrill when I learn that readers have enjoyed certain small quiet moments in the story.
Finally, I would like to share with this list a completely unexpected aspect of winning the Newbery for me: the response from Korea. I have received scores of congratulatory messages from that country, and been interviewed by every major media outlet there. Just yesterday I received a lovely letter from Lee Ho-Hee, the First Lady of Korea! It has been an astonishing and humbling experience...
Thank you all for this enlightening discussion. I always learn a great deal from this list--and this time especially so!
Best wishes, Linda Sue
~~~ Linda Sue Park http://www.lindasuepark.com
~~~
Received on Wed 20 Feb 2002 08:27:37 AM CST
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:27:37 -0600
Linda Sue Park has asked me to forward this message to the CCBC-Net community:
Dear ccbc-net:
I was delighted to receive from Ginny Moore Kruse some of your comments on A SINGLE SHARD. It was especially gratifying to read about the responses of students from Karen Simonetti, Steve Engelfried, and Monica Edinger. I have not yet heard from many young readers and am eager to learn how they feel about the book. I was impressed by Monica's student's perception of the ceramic box as a metaphor, and dazzled by Steve's comparison of Shard's title to that of Father's Arcane Daughter, a book I love! To learn that Karen's student is a
'reluctant reader' and is enjoying the book was very moving to me, for I have been told by some that Shard is one of those books "for avid readers only".
I was fascinated by Christine Hill's comments on the "Rock of the Falling Flowers" section of the book. When I first learned of this story many years ago, I was indeed horrified--an 'American' response, as Christine says. Yet I also knew that those women are considered martyrs in Korean legend, much admired for their act. I confess that as I was writing, I wasn't conscious of trying to ensure that Tree?r was not 'an American boy in Korean dress'--I was simply trying to imagine how one might find such an act admirable. Which is sort of the same thing--but Christine's lucid remarks have made me see this point much more clearly!
Ginny asked me to consider the relationship between Shard and my first two books. I think of the three as similar in that all three are linear narratives written in third person past tense--a very traditional way to tell a story. In retrospect, I believe I chose to do this as a service to both writer and (hopefully) reader. It was enough to have to deal with a setting and subject matter that were so unfamiliar; to use a complicated story structure as well seemed too much. After writing Shard, I did begin to feel a little restless in technical terms, with the result that the next book (When My Name Was Keoko, a World War II story due out in March) is a complete departure!
It is always interesting for an author to hear from readers, "My favorite part was..." So far, the two scenes mentioned most often as
'favorite' have been the first time Tree?r finds his bowl refilled, and the moment when he realizes the clay he is draining needs further work. (One reader described this as "...when Tree Ear finally knew it and then, suddenly, knew that he knew it.") When I am writing, I try to make every scene important in some way--but it is a simple fact that some scenes are more dramatic or climactic or moving than others. It is therefore a genuine thrill when I learn that readers have enjoyed certain small quiet moments in the story.
Finally, I would like to share with this list a completely unexpected aspect of winning the Newbery for me: the response from Korea. I have received scores of congratulatory messages from that country, and been interviewed by every major media outlet there. Just yesterday I received a lovely letter from Lee Ho-Hee, the First Lady of Korea! It has been an astonishing and humbling experience...
Thank you all for this enlightening discussion. I always learn a great deal from this list--and this time especially so!
Best wishes, Linda Sue
~~~ Linda Sue Park http://www.lindasuepark.com
~~~
Received on Wed 20 Feb 2002 08:27:37 AM CST
