I Think, Therefore I Explore

The Blog:
When I hear “explore,” I tend to think first of men like Columbus sailing past the edge of the earth. For most of us, though, the majority of the exploration we experience in life involves not going anywhere. Instead, it’s about questioning and soul searching. The middle grade novel I chose this week includes some of each.

The Quotes:
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.”
Frank Borman

“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started... and know the place for the first time.”
T.S. Eliot


The Book:
Middle Grade Novel: A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park (Newbery Winner)

None of my kids has read A Single Shard—yet—but it’s my very favorite middle grade novel. Set in a twelfth-century Korean potters village, the story follows an orphan boy who wants to learn to make the celadon pottery the village is famous for. Beginning with this simple longing and ending with a dangerous journey, the story is poignant and beautifully told and well worth the read, for adults as well as kids.

The Links:
To learn more about Linda Sue Park and her work, try her website at http://www.lspark.com/.

The Metropolitan Museum has a fun interactive site about celadon pottery; to check it out, go to http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/celadon/html/startpage.htm.

I found the above exploration quotes at the following link. To find more, look at http://thinkexist.com/quotations/exploration/.