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315th out of 962 books
—
1,171 voters
Seedfolks
A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart with a ha...more
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
March 24th 1999
by HarperTeen
(first published January 1st 1997)
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This book is such a great read and promotes happiness everywhere! :)
I just re-read this after having read it in college, summer 2003. I was taking a class called (GET READY): Education Theory and Policy, Introduction to Philosophy of Education, taught by Madhu Prakash, this amazingly beautiful Indian woman who always glowed and no one really knew how old she was though she looked so young...she always drank this mysterious beverage which she made from all organic products including wheat berry.....more
I just re-read this after having read it in college, summer 2003. I was taking a class called (GET READY): Education Theory and Policy, Introduction to Philosophy of Education, taught by Madhu Prakash, this amazingly beautiful Indian woman who always glowed and no one really knew how old she was though she looked so young...she always drank this mysterious beverage which she made from all organic products including wheat berry.....more
Jan 15, 2008
Stephanie Hawkins
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Stephanie by:
Janet Kaufman (college professor)
Shelves:
teen-fiction,
favorites
This book is fantastic! Told from the viewpoint of several different community members from various backgrounds, it is the story of a community pulling together to overcome racism, stereotypes, and social injustice. It all begins with a Vietnamese girl who goes to the abandoned lot to plant a bean seed and an elderly white woman who thinks she's hiding drugs and goes down to investigate. When she discovers that the girl was actually planting seeds, she feels so horrible that she starts helping h...more
This is the latest read-aloud in my room. In choosing it I knew I would have to edit some material as I read. The characters speak honestly about drugs and pregnancy, which is great, but not altogether appropriate for ten year olds. The story is about the creation of a community garden in Cleveland. Each chapter is told by a different character who has been (or is in the process of being)changed by the garden. The story is told simply and without preaching its message. By caring for living thing...more
Very Inspiring! The different views really showed me what it's like to live in Clevland and how this one girl, and this one little plant, brought a garden that helped everyone living in Clevland see something in the city they never knew was there.
This book is a gem. It's incredibly short, but that doesn't take anything away from it at all. When one girl, grieving the father she never knew, decides to plant some lima beans in a vacant lot near her home, she inadvertently starts a whole community of gardeners in the middle of Gibb Street in Cleveland. People of all races and ethnicities come together, neighbors become friends, and though all are very different, they're all one thing: growers. The chapters each tell the story of a different...more
This is a great book to use for teaching.
Jul 12, 2010
Amanda
added it
Snapshot: Seedfolks is a story told through the points of view of a diverse cast of characters. The characters all share a neighborhood with an ugly, trash-filled vacant lot. One spring, a young Vietnamese girl plants some bean seeds in the lot, and one-by-one her neighbors join her in making the garden grow. Each character has different motivations for starting the garden, but eventually they become their own community--even those who only observe the garden.
Hook: The book is short, easy to rea...more
Hook: The book is short, easy to rea...more
My neighborhood, Edgewater, reads -- a lot -- and that is why we are having "Edgewater Reads" (sponsored by the 48th Ward) as a preliminary to the Grand Opening of the new Edgewater Libary on June 22. (Can't wait!)
Folks sent in nominations for books around the theme of diversity and the two finalists were "Seedfolks" and "The Book of My Lives" by Hemon (an award-winning writer who lives in Edgewater). "Seedfolks" squeaked out a narrow win.
It is suitable for middle schoolers on up and is the stor...more
Folks sent in nominations for books around the theme of diversity and the two finalists were "Seedfolks" and "The Book of My Lives" by Hemon (an award-winning writer who lives in Edgewater). "Seedfolks" squeaked out a narrow win.
It is suitable for middle schoolers on up and is the stor...more
Childrens chapter book, fiction
Seedfolks is a story about many different characters of differing races and cultures who are drawn together by a patch of land that they take from a garbage filled eye sore to a beautiful garden. Each character grows vegetables comfortable and familiar to them and share their experiences with the others in the garden. It is the one thing all of these characters have in common with one another and it pulls the surrounding community together. Some characters are wel...more
Seedfolks is a story about many different characters of differing races and cultures who are drawn together by a patch of land that they take from a garbage filled eye sore to a beautiful garden. Each character grows vegetables comfortable and familiar to them and share their experiences with the others in the garden. It is the one thing all of these characters have in common with one another and it pulls the surrounding community together. Some characters are wel...more
To me, this book is simple and beautiful.
It's written in stereotypes and while that could have gone awry, it didn't. I feel as though a hatred of stereotypes has been drilled into me and I sometimes forget they exist for a reason. Several reasons. Sometimes not good reasons but sometimes, they illustrate an idea or a philosophy that would take too long to explain otherwise.
In the case of the audiobook, the stereotypes are not just the people in print - the old white woman, the sassy black woman,...more
It's written in stereotypes and while that could have gone awry, it didn't. I feel as though a hatred of stereotypes has been drilled into me and I sometimes forget they exist for a reason. Several reasons. Sometimes not good reasons but sometimes, they illustrate an idea or a philosophy that would take too long to explain otherwise.
In the case of the audiobook, the stereotypes are not just the people in print - the old white woman, the sassy black woman,...more
Seedfolks was a very inspiring story of bringing together a community by creating a little garden off a not very well kept street. Everyone brought there own personal touch to the garden and eventually they all came together to protect what they loved most, the garden.
I thought that even though there were very little illustrations in this book that the ones that were in it were very personal, seeing only the faces of the ones talked about in the garden. Sometimes the illustrator would put a lit...more
I thought that even though there were very little illustrations in this book that the ones that were in it were very personal, seeing only the faces of the ones talked about in the garden. Sometimes the illustrator would put a lit...more
I really liked the way the story of the neighborhood garden was told; using points of views and opinions from the diverse population of the surrounding Cleveland area. It was interesting to see the many reasons people were drawn to the garden and the effects the garden had on people's perceptions of each other.
An especially telling point came when Amir recalls in his chapter how an older Italian lady had approached him and told him how much she admired his eggplants. Amir doesn't recognize he...more
An especially telling point came when Amir recalls in his chapter how an older Italian lady had approached him and told him how much she admired his eggplants. Amir doesn't recognize he...more
One can never tell just how deeply one simple action can change the world or your community. A young girl named Kim who came from Vietnam lives in an innner city area of Cleveland Ohio. She is mourning the deth of her father at an ancestral altar. He was a farmer before he was killed in a war. To cultivate a connection she plant thre beans in an abandoned lot. THe three seeds gow into plants but whatalso starts a snowball effect of a whole lot of positive. Elderly Ana looks down from her apartme...more
Seedfolks
Grade/interest level: Upper Elementary (4th to 5th) I would even go all the way up to high school too.
Reading level: Fountas and Pinnell: S
Grade: 4.3
Genre: informational, multicultural
Main Characters: Kim, Ana, Tio Juan, Curtis, Wendell, Leona, basically the whole community…
Setting: a community garden/parking lot in Cleveland, OH.
POV: POVs of all characters.
One day a 9 year old Vietnamese girl is seen trying to plant some lima bean seeds in an empty and abandoned parking lot. The young...more
Grade/interest level: Upper Elementary (4th to 5th) I would even go all the way up to high school too.
Reading level: Fountas and Pinnell: S
Grade: 4.3
Genre: informational, multicultural
Main Characters: Kim, Ana, Tio Juan, Curtis, Wendell, Leona, basically the whole community…
Setting: a community garden/parking lot in Cleveland, OH.
POV: POVs of all characters.
One day a 9 year old Vietnamese girl is seen trying to plant some lima bean seeds in an empty and abandoned parking lot. The young...more
What I like about was that I enjoy that this book can connect about what happen to me back in the past. Compare to what I do now in the present time. What I did not like about this book when Sae young was rob and torcher so she planted hot peppers.
The characters that I want to talk about is or that I enjoy is Sam, Gonzalo, and Wendell because they are one of people to talk about in the story. Sam is 78 year old man that is retired and jewish. He and his friend said he wanted to grow Marjiuana b...more
The characters that I want to talk about is or that I enjoy is Sam, Gonzalo, and Wendell because they are one of people to talk about in the story. Sam is 78 year old man that is retired and jewish. He and his friend said he wanted to grow Marjiuana b...more
Trini le
Review of Seed Folks
What I did liked about the story Seed Folks, was how everyone had something to do with the garden. They were strangers but they all came together to help Kim with the garden. What I didn’t like was how nosey Ana was, and how she gossiped.
My favorite characters in the story Seed Folks are Kim, Sea Young and Leona. I thought it was very interesting to read about how Kim planting Lima beans to connect with her dead father. I feel like Sea Young was a very dramatic chara...more
Review of Seed Folks
What I did liked about the story Seed Folks, was how everyone had something to do with the garden. They were strangers but they all came together to help Kim with the garden. What I didn’t like was how nosey Ana was, and how she gossiped.
My favorite characters in the story Seed Folks are Kim, Sea Young and Leona. I thought it was very interesting to read about how Kim planting Lima beans to connect with her dead father. I feel like Sea Young was a very dramatic chara...more
SeedFolks Review
I think this book is ok because I only read half of it because the book mainly talks about the garden and I think I should have more problems and more stuff of it. Another thing I hate is that you will not see that character speak in that chapter again. But the thing I liked is that the people life’s and what happened to them before is very interesting. My favorite characters were Leona Tio Juan and Sam. MY favorite scene in the book is that Leona brang a garbage bag full of tra...more
I think this book is ok because I only read half of it because the book mainly talks about the garden and I think I should have more problems and more stuff of it. Another thing I hate is that you will not see that character speak in that chapter again. But the thing I liked is that the people life’s and what happened to them before is very interesting. My favorite characters were Leona Tio Juan and Sam. MY favorite scene in the book is that Leona brang a garbage bag full of tra...more
Janet Amaya
Seedfolk by: Paul Fleischman
A few things I like about this book:
• Each person connected to the garden in some sort of way.
• Because of Ana, everyone else had hope.
A few things I don’t like about this book:
• How Sae-Young’s life turned out to be; she was sad and scared.
• Some characters in the book had a tough life but now try to fine hope.
This garden started off by a little girl Kim, she hopes to get her father’s spirit to recognize her by planting Lima Beans since her father died wh...more
Seedfolk by: Paul Fleischman
A few things I like about this book:
• Each person connected to the garden in some sort of way.
• Because of Ana, everyone else had hope.
A few things I don’t like about this book:
• How Sae-Young’s life turned out to be; she was sad and scared.
• Some characters in the book had a tough life but now try to fine hope.
This garden started off by a little girl Kim, she hopes to get her father’s spirit to recognize her by planting Lima Beans since her father died wh...more
Seedfolks
Title: Seedfolks
Author: Paul Fleischman
Genre: non-fiction
Seedfolks is about a girl named Kim who starts a community garden in a vacant lot. Different people are drawn to the garden and wonders why the little girl is there. Everybody in the book has a different reason to be at the garden. The second person to notice the garden is an elderly woman named Ana. The third person to notice the garden is a grumpy old man who is also Ana and Kim’s neighbor. The fourth person to notice is a youn...more
Title: Seedfolks
Author: Paul Fleischman
Genre: non-fiction
Seedfolks is about a girl named Kim who starts a community garden in a vacant lot. Different people are drawn to the garden and wonders why the little girl is there. Everybody in the book has a different reason to be at the garden. The second person to notice the garden is an elderly woman named Ana. The third person to notice the garden is a grumpy old man who is also Ana and Kim’s neighbor. The fourth person to notice is a youn...more
Grade/interest level: 5-7
Reading level: 4.9
Genre: Realistic fiction
Main Characters: 13 members of an urban community in Ohio
Setting: Cleveland Ohio
POV: Each chapter is written in the pov of different member within the community
Seedfolks tells the tale of 13 members of an Ohio neighborhood who find solace from their pain and sorrows in creating a community garden in a decrepit vacant lot. The story begins with a young Asian girl named Kim. She is saddened and depressed on the anniversary of her...more
Reading level: 4.9
Genre: Realistic fiction
Main Characters: 13 members of an urban community in Ohio
Setting: Cleveland Ohio
POV: Each chapter is written in the pov of different member within the community
Seedfolks tells the tale of 13 members of an Ohio neighborhood who find solace from their pain and sorrows in creating a community garden in a decrepit vacant lot. The story begins with a young Asian girl named Kim. She is saddened and depressed on the anniversary of her...more
As a teacher I honestly do not think you could ask for a better book. This book basically hands lesson ideas and discussion points out on a silver platter. In the story a dirty, run down, rat infested lot in Cleveland is recreated into a beautiful garden. The lot is surrounded by apartment buildings where mostly immigrants live. The first main character to take interest in the abandoned lot, Kim, a nine year old girl, plants only some lima beans. And with this comes the first discussion point I...more
I think that Seedfolks would be a good book to use in a middle grades classroom. It would be an ideal book to use in my own opinion in a class that has multiple mixed races and different languages. The book shows how despite not knowing anything about a particular person you can get to know them. The book starts with no one speaking to each other and all the watchers assuming that the little girl who started the garden was hiding drugs, money or a gun. As the book goes on though the groups of pe...more
*Spoiler alert*
This book was well written, but I did not like the plot. It wasn't very exciting, and I felt that it was very repetitive. I had lots of unanswered questions about the story. What happened to Curtis and Lateesha? Did Royce ever go back home? What happened to everyone during the winter? Did the author imply that the garden would be started again, or did the ending mean that only Kim was determined enough to start again? I did like how the ending was like the beginning and the end of...more
This book was well written, but I did not like the plot. It wasn't very exciting, and I felt that it was very repetitive. I had lots of unanswered questions about the story. What happened to Curtis and Lateesha? Did Royce ever go back home? What happened to everyone during the winter? Did the author imply that the garden would be started again, or did the ending mean that only Kim was determined enough to start again? I did like how the ending was like the beginning and the end of...more
Seedfolks was recommended to me by my eleven year old daughter, Bekah. I have three daughters, all of whom love to read. Two of them recommend their favorite books to me. Bekah is the only one who seems to only recommend the books that she not only likes, but that will also appeal to me. Seedfolks certainly fits this bill.
This short, 69-page book was one I savored. The first night I opened it, I read a few chapters, saw how lovely it was going to be and stopped in order to prolong my enjoyment...more
This short, 69-page book was one I savored. The first night I opened it, I read a few chapters, saw how lovely it was going to be and stopped in order to prolong my enjoyment...more
This was a quick read with an important message.
We started reading this book in my Multicultural Children's Lit class. I think the intention was for us to read a chapter per class period and bring it all together at the end. We lost steam after the first chapter, but it intrigued me enough to want to keep reading it.
At the center of this story is a vacant lot, one that is used primarily as a dump in an urban community. Little by little, people living in the neighborhood begin to use the lot as a...more
We started reading this book in my Multicultural Children's Lit class. I think the intention was for us to read a chapter per class period and bring it all together at the end. We lost steam after the first chapter, but it intrigued me enough to want to keep reading it.
At the center of this story is a vacant lot, one that is used primarily as a dump in an urban community. Little by little, people living in the neighborhood begin to use the lot as a...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 perspective of 13 of those people. It all starts with a young Vietnamese girl who decides to surreptitiously plant a very small crop of lima beans in a bare patch of dirt in a "vacant" lot where people have t...more
I finished reading my third book "Seed Folks" in English a couple days ago. The book was very interesting for me because the writing style is very unique. The book is consisted of 13 episodes. Each episode is spoken by a different person. When I started to read it, I got confused because each episode is written by a first person, and the first person is a different person. However, different person has a common thing. All of them live in an apartment where is a poor area in Cleveland. The apartm...more
:DDDDDDDDD I HAVE SO MANY MEMORIES WITH THIS BOOK!!!!! THE AUTHOR FLEW IN, READ "THE DUNDERHEADS" TO US BEFORE IT WAS PUBLISHED, I GOT HIS SIGNATURE, GOT OUT OF CLASS EARLY, REHEARSALS, GOING DOWNTOWN TO SHOWCASE A SNIPPET OF OUR PLAY (ME CHOSEN WITH FIVE OR FOUR OTHER PEOPLE), MY CLASS SPENDING MONTH(S) PREPARING FOR HIS VISIT, FOR OUR PLAY. MEETING WITH THE REPORTER WITH TWO OTHER CHOSEN PPLES, READING THE BOOK, SPREADING THE BOOK AROUND, LIBRARIES, POSTERS DOWNTOWN AND IN SCHOOL, WRITING AND...more
Paul Fleischman’s Seedfolks is a magical and remarkable gem of a book. This 69-page juvenile novel is touching, moving, and completely inspiring and hopeful. He discusses human growth and unity through the diversity that can be represented in a garden. From the beginning, this book shows its special purpose with Kim planting the beans in remembrance of the spirit of her father, who never knew her. Each successive story leads to another with the garden binding them all. In the end, the book makes...more
Told from thirteen different perspectives. Describes growth of a community garden in poor neighborhood of Cleveland. Various ages, ethnicities represented.
Most of the different characters seem reasonably authentic and are sensitively portrayed. Although no one character was the focus for more than a handful of pages, the reader gets to know them each quickly and can see things from their perspective. I was slightly bothered by the stilted English used by the Korean immigrant character. On the on...more
Most of the different characters seem reasonably authentic and are sensitively portrayed. Although no one character was the focus for more than a handful of pages, the reader gets to know them each quickly and can see things from their perspective. I was slightly bothered by the stilted English used by the Korean immigrant character. On the on...more
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Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California. The son of well-known children's novelist Sid Fleischman, Paul was in the unique position of having his famous father's books read out loud to him by the author as they were being written. This experience continued throughout his childhood.
Paul followed in his father's footsteps as an author of books for young readers, and in 1982 he released...more
More about Paul Fleischman...
Paul followed in his father's footsteps as an author of books for young readers, and in 1982 he released...more
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“Television, I'm afraid, has isolated us more than race, class, or ethnicity.”
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Nov 16, 2012 08:10pm