Seedfolks
By Paul Fleischman
Published by Harper Trophy
Copyright 1997
69 Pages
Children's Chapter Book

Seedfolks is a book that talks about thirteen diferent people from completely different backgrounds that all come together when planting a garden in trash filled lot. Kim is a Vietamese girl who was born eight months after her father died. She never knew him and he never knew her. To try and make a connection with her father who loved to garden, she takes some lima beans and makes a little garden in the lot across the street. Little does she know that her small garden would start a networking of friendship. Ana is an old woman who never goes far from her window. One day she sees a small girl go out to the lot down the street and bury something. Ana, thinking its drugs or a gun, goes down after the girl leaves and digs the seeds up. When she sees that they're seeds she hurries and buries them again and noticing that the ground is a little dry she waters it for the girl. Wendell is the only white man in the building so he and Ana are pretty close. When Ana calles him to tell him that the girl's plants are dying, she asks Wendell for watch out for them because he knows about plants. He fills up a pitcher of water and goes downt to the lot to water them. As he's doing it, Kim comes by and sees him. They both stop and look at eachother and then Wendell smiles and finishes watering her beans. Then he backs off and watches her water them. He then decides that he wants a small garden too. The book goes on with Gonzalo, Leona, Sam, Virgil, Sae Young, Curtis, Nora, Maricela, Amir and Florence. They are all from different countries and all suffering different hardships, but they all start a little garden in the small lot and become friends. When the snow starts to fall they have to stop. Everyone is sad that they cant garden and see each other everyday. As soon as the snow melts away though, they are right back to gerdening.
I really liked this book and how it went through thirteen people's lives and how they were all changed because of the garden. I thought it was very creative.
I would recomend this book to anyone and i dont see any problems coming from reading it. its a really sweet book.