Seedfolks

The word "paradise" came out of my mouth, without thinking. An old Romanian woman keeps a keen eyeon the neighborhood. Her suspicious glance falls upon a young Vietnamese girl squatting in a vacant lot, poking at the ground. Upon further inspection, she realizes that the young girl was p......more

Some of you might have found that I tend to be a bit stingy with my star ratings. Seedfolks is definitely worthy of 5 stars. It is a very short book that you can read on your lunch break. You are given glimpses of snippets of the lives of many of the inhabitants of a Cleavland town from the perspect......more

I like the idea of a book about a community garden that brings people together. However, Fleischman's book which lets his audience "see people making something of themselves instead of waiting for a welfare check" (spoken by Florence on pg. 85) is hugely problematic given that Fleischman is a white......more

I read this book to my students. It lead to great discussions about diversity and coming together as one. "Kim begins the garden, planting a few lima beans to connect with her father who died when she was a baby in Vietnam. Then Tío Juan, a farmer from Guatemala, gains purpose when he teaches the nei......more

I didn't like this book. We had to read it for school, and I read ahead (sorry!) There was detail, but only in certain areas. The chapters were too short, and they introduced a new character in every chapter, with not much detail about the character. I didn't like the format of the story, and there......more