Seedfolks (original 1997; edition 2003)

I read this book with my seventh grade class at the beginning of every school year. It is a very readable (and quick) book to read that completely supports the sense of community that I want to build in my classroom. At the end of the book, I have each of my seventh graders identify a theme that they find in the story. They type it up in large letters, choose a colorful piece of scrapbook paper, and we create a beautiful patchwork quilt on the wall o f my classroom. We are all connected... ( )

This is more a collection of glimpses of different lives, all joined together by a community garden. The neighborhood is a mixture of different ethnicities and ages and experiences and that is part of the charm of how the garden pulls them together and gives them a sense of community and care for one another. ( )

Each chapter of this volume is told from a different point of view - each unique and eloquent. It is about the year in the life of an abandoned lot in a multi-ethnic neighborhood and how the people come together. ( )

This would be a GREAT read aloud for anyone who wants to interest students in a school garden or a group of people in a community garden. It is short and comprised of different narratives of characters who are all very different, and with different stories, but come together through one garden.
This would be a great step-off to also introduce personal narrative in connection with science or gardening, and students could create their own narrative with the final project being a book/collection of the class's narratives. ( )

i love this book if you love gardens your love this books ( )

Seedfolks is an inspirational account of how one city neighborhood bands together to turn a trash filled lot into a beautiful garden. It all began when Kim was inspired to honor her deceased father by growing beans in an abandoned lot. Then, more and more neighborhood people started growing items, all for their own reasons. Some people wanted to feel closer to their homeland, some needed something to pass the time, and others were trying to get their exes to notice them again. This garden helped an extremely diverse group of people come together and do something nice for their community while simultaneously fighting the forces that are working against their garden. This book is great for children to see how diverse one community can be and how different other cultures are from their own.

Details: This book was written to interest childre in grades 5-8 and is on a 3.5 reading level. ( )

RGG: Lovely series of vignettes about an urban, multicultural, multigenerational neighborhood creating a city garden. The resulting empathy for others has an allied behavior aspect.

RGG: Lovely series of vignettes about an urban, multicultural, multigenerational neighborhood creating a city garden. The resulting empathy for others has an allied behavior aspect.

I got this book based on a colleague's recommendation and ended up liking it more than I thought I might. It tells the story of a vacant lot that is transformed by the members of neighboring apartments into a community garden. I guess I was put off by the expectation of a feel-good, we’re-all-in-this-together story but it didn’t read that way and I especially liked how individuals were given some development rather than being just stereotyped characters from any urban neighborhood. I was told but had to see for myself. ( )

A book aof community and its distinctive yet communicative viewpoints. A narrative that literally starts with a seed planted by a child and moves on to allow everyone their voice. A packed little chapter book that should be revealed to all ages and cultures. ( )

This story takes place in a vacant lot in the middle of town. This lot is full of garbage and no one ever thinks to plant anything green there. Until one day, a young girl plants her seed behind an old refrigerator. The girl comes back everyday hoping her seed will blossom into a beautiful plant. Once the girl's presence is noticed, the community begin all coming to the garden to plant seeds they believe will help better a situation. For example, a character Curtis believes he can win over his girlfriend. This soil was magical and brought promise to those to planted there. ( )

This novel introduces different races and cultures coming together as a community to plant a garden in a vacant lot - all inspired by the main character, a little girl who planted Lima beans in honor of her father. This book is an easy read for students and has a great diversity of people and shows they people can come together for a greater cause. ( )

One day a girl planted dried lima beans into the empty lot next to her home. After being seen by her neighbors, others began planting in the same lot. Once the lot is cleaned out, it becomes the neighborhood's own garden. Each character has a story, and reason, to plant in that garden; and neighbors who did not know one another, became a community. ( )

In this short novel thirteen different people's stories are told, but all have one focus: the vacant lot. The vacant lot ends up being turned into a wonderful community garden where each and everyone of the characters is able to express themselves through cultivating life in the garden. This book is great for teaching point of view or character analysis. ( )

One small bean plant turned into a large community garden and one small girl made a difference. Thirteen small vignettes are collected in this book and they are all connected to that garden, from the young Vietnamese girl who plants beans in memory of the father she never knew to the Haitian immigrant who is trying to make his fortune in lettuce. This book is quick and easy to read and it makes an impact. It is a delight. ( )

This novel shows the issues of diversity and the importance if difference in the world. There are 13 chapters to this book, each narrated in the first person by a different character who somehow finds some answer to his/her life's needs through the transformation of a simple garden. There are 13 chapters in this book and each is narrated by a different character who finds his/her needs through the simply neighborhood garden. ( )

This book has 13 different stories that involve different people from the same community. They each are a part of this garden they grow together right in the neighborhood. This garden is the only thing that brings them together, if it wasn't for the garden they would all be strangers to each other. ( )

An entertaining novel.

A little girl decides to grow some beans in honor of her father. Some neighbors discover this and start planting in the vacant lot too. Eventually the whole lot is full of people's plants and they all become friends while inside the garden and look out of each other. Each person plants things for different reasons but in the end it is what brings them all together.
I would love to use this book in a plant unit, and maybe plant some plants in the classroom or if there is room start our own classroom garden for the students to experience. ( )

This novel is a story about different people in a community coming together to grow a garden. They grow things that come from their community and the backgrounds. It ends up bringing a lot of people together instead of being segregated in their community. ( )

"Seed Folks" by Fleischman is told through the perspective of different people living in the same inner-city community. ALl of the people in the story have some relationship to the community garden project. Most people in the community benefited from the garden one way or another. ( )

This book is about different people of different ethnicities, life experiences, and racial views surprisingly coming togther in starting a garden in a poor neighborhood. One small Asian girl starts the garden and it takes off from one person to the next throughout the neighborhood. In the progrssion of this garden as things begin to grow, the relationships between the different characters grow as well. As they grow, their perceptions and sterotypes of each other change. They understand each other more than ever, and the eventually all become a giant family because of this garden they have become a part of together. This is a great story that shows how people with differences can come together despite initial sterotypes and racism. This was a good book! ( )

This book is about all the many cultures, and each of these peoples stories and backgrounds. It is about how a abandoned piece of land can be transformed into a beautiful garden and can bring the neighborhood together. ( )

Seedfolks gives a reader many things to think about when it comes to the garden. How the garden symbolizes their neighborhood with the segregation. But, also how it bring people together when others try to help each other out at the garden. This book could be read aloud to children maybe chapter by chapter and you could show them different things about each city. Also, you could identify the characters location on maps and maybe have children plant something from the book. This book can be broken down into may lessons for children. ( )

Seedfolks is a series of point of views of people in a community coming together due to a garden. This a great book to introduce different cultures to students. ( )