Linda Sue Park Loves Poetry

Linda Sue Park was featured in the “Living” section of our Sunday newspaper, the “Democrat and Chronicle.” If you still have the paper, it’s worth saving. It’s interesting, informative, and very honest. What will you discover about her? Well, that of course depends on what you already know.

If you know very little about her, you should know that she was the winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal is Linda Sue Park for her book, A Single Shard, published by Clarion Books. Winning that award is like winning a Pulitzer Prize or an Academy Award. I put her in the same category as those winners: simply amazing people who are truly gifted.

A Single Shard is about life in a 12th-century Korean village where a twelve-year old boy, Tree-Ear, learns pottery and comes of age. I am not used to reading historic novels, but I enjoyed this thoroughly researched and lyrically written novel, full of suspense, hurdles, and fascinating imagery. It was a worthy choice for the Newbery Medal.

When I joined Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators, I met Linda Sue Park. She’s an active member of the group, and I wondered what she was really like. I had met other famous people like Jackie Robinson, Art Buckwald, Vincent Price, Bob Costas, Jean Fritz, Steven Kellogg, Buffalo Bob, and Hopalong Cassidy. (And I've written a poem about wanting to meet Charlie Rose that was featured during Poetry Month by poet Jayne Jaudon Ferrer on Your Daily Poem.) So, I hid my awe of her on first sight. It turns out that she is a highly professional writer and very helpful to the members of RACWI, and she loves poetry. Isn’t that how many prolific writers become interested in writing? I know Judy Blume did.

The first piece of writing Linda got published was a haiku in a children's magazine. At the time she was nine years old:
In the green forest 
A sparkling, bright blue pond hides. 
And animals drink. 
(Trailblazer magazine, Winter 1969)


She was paid a dollar for the poem. For Christmas, she gave the dollar to her father. Dad framed the check. Linda Sue Park has never outgrown her love for poetry. Even when she writes prose, it is very lyrical in nature.


In the newspaper, it says that Linda once met a boy named Daniel who read A Single Shard 62 times. 


Do I have a story like that?


I once saw a young lady circle all the tables at Rochester Children’s Book Festival for over an hour, and she could only buy one book. She bought Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems. Now I write poetry with her in mind.


Check out Linda’s website at http://www.lindasuepark.com/.               

You won't be disappointed. It has a unique style, just like Linda Sue Park.