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Seedfolk

Seedfolk

by: Paul Fleishman (1997)

Seedfolk is a short novel that follows the development of a community garden.  The story starts on a little girl planting lima beans so prove to her father, who passed away before she was born, that she is his daughter.  This garden starts to grow as people around the plot start to notice life coming from something that used to be trash.  Soon enough the garden is cleared of all the trash that used to be there, and other people are starting to plot their own little gardens in the city of Cleveland.  The garden is filled with plants that people from all around are coming to be part of.  Soon the garden starts to look like the community itself.  The garden becomes a home and outlet for many of the farmer.  It is a place where they can communicate even when they do not speak the same language.   
This is a wonderful book about a community that never contributed to anything together, comes together without even realizing they were doing it.  This would be a great book to read in upper grades.  The concepts in the book are great for classroom discussions, and understanding how different characters of different origins can come together and become a small family.  

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