Seedfolks

by Paul Fleischman

Paul Fleischman is the son of Sid Fleischman, also a Newbery winner. Having read books by both authors, I recognized similarities in style, and now I know why.

Seedfolks is a story about a community garden. The garden was started by a young Vietnamese girl to honor her deceased father who had been a gardener. The only place to plant anything was an undeveloped lot filled with junk. The girl’s efforts were noticed, and slowly people planted small plots of ground and cleared the junk away.

Each chapter focuses upon one person, and why that person decided to grow a garden. Some of the people plant to sell the crops, others to honor a loved one, court a girlfriend, to escape loneliness, and many other reasons. Each reason takes the person to the garden where interaction with other gardeners takes place. The garden becomes a meeting place and grows into a community. People who ignored or mistreated each other become friends or at least tolerant. As the garden grows, a sense of community grows, too.

The essence of Seedfolks isn’t about plants growing; it’s about people finding that they have something in common and building relationships from that commonality.

Lesson plans and questions with answers from the author are at:
http://www.harperchildrens.com/hch/parents/teachingguides/fleischman.pdf