Seedfolks
Publication Information
Author:  Fleischman, Paul	Illustrator:  Pedersen, Judy
Title:  Seedfolks	Date:  1997
Publisher:  HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Books	City:  New York
ISBN, paperback:  0-06-027471-9	ISBN, hardback:
Recommended audience:
ABE/ABLE:   Yes	ESOL:
Family:   Yes	Young Adult:
Picture:
General Information:
Book Type(s):    fiction, short stories, linked story
HSE Descriptor(s):
Summary:
Thirteen people of different ethnic backgrounds who are strangers to each other tell their stories of a vacant lot in Cleveland that becomes a neighborhood garden. The book jacket refers to the "harvest of hidden lives" and a "hymn to the power of plants and people."
Teaching Ideas:
A matrix chart for the 13 storytelling voices would provide extensive comparison/contrast material for discussion and writing, i.e., age, ethnic group, point of view, contribution to the garden, links to other characters, how the garden helped them, etc. Ohio teachers familiar with Cleveland could find locations mentioned on a local map. The book could be used in thematic text sets on gardens or on the linked-story type of fiction with In Neuva York and Rio Grande Stories. Overall topics prompted by the book include the role of individuals in making change and what makes a community. The "voices" of the storytellers encourage the use of the Readers' Theatre strategy. www.plants.usda.gov
Keywords: select any link below for a list of resources which also have that keyword
Social Studies > anthropology > multicultural Geography > locations > U.S. states/regions > Ohio > Cleveland Social Studies > sociology > social issues > change Communities > urban > urban living Communities > change Communities > multicultural Science > biology > botany/plants > gardens

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