Seedfolks By Paul Fleischman
Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
Seedfolks is a one of those books you see on the shelf and think “hmmm, why not? It’s a short read.” You’re not overly enthusiastic about it, yet still the cover is nice and you’d like something quick. Boy, was I surprised! Seedfolks is written by a Newberry Award Winning Author and rightly so.
Paul Fleischman writes a wonderfully simple yet thought provoking book about community and commonality in the most harrowing of settings. Despite all backgrounds, struggles, nationalities, disability, ages, or socioeconomic barriers his characters may experience, Fleischman sows and weaves a common thread along each vignette demonstrating that people are social creatures who share a sense of common ground.
Against the backdrop of Cleveland, neighbors in tenement housing come together to turn a filthy vacant lot into a community garden. Little by little, with every turn of hardened soil, or milk jug of faucet water, each character contributes to the project in their own ways described within their monologue. Like Kim, who actively started it all with hopes of appeasing the memory of her father; or Leona, who found the courage to seek assistance from her local leaders with trash clean-up. Even for some, they merely see a money-making endeavor like Virgil, while others find the will to live like the pregnant teen Maricella. Despite Seedfolks being a young adult reader, Fleischman doesn’t shy from touching on the more complex issues which are the seeds he wishes to sow in the minds and communities of his readers.
“You can’t see Canada across Lake Eerie, but you know it’s there. It’s the same with spring. You have to have faith”.
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janainaart
2087
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