Beautifully cultivated

I first read an excerpt of Seedfolks during a conference in 2016. Since then, I have wanted to finish this book. 4 years later, success!

This is a quick and easy read with VERY short stories about a Cleveland community garden being told by different characters. It's a heart warming book that makes a person start thinking about what they can start in order to help build community.

Great book, my sixth graders clapped when we finished it.

Interesting style, flipping between various characters. Could have been more developed, but it was interesting.

Not my favorite. The narratives are outdated and somewhat problematic (especially the accents given to immigrant narrators). This has largely been taught with 6th graders, but the challenging topics (including abortion) are passed over far too quickly for classroom use. There’s nothing to hang onto to make this book work in a curriculum. The narrative style alone should remove it from classroom shelves.

This is a wonderful book. It tells the tale of one community garden from multiple perspectives. I recommend to anyone teaching young adults about multiple perspectives, perceptions and growing up.

This darling little book, less than a hundred pages long, speaks wonderfully about the healing power that a sense of community can bestow. More than that, not a community that you are born into, or that is born out of many similarities - but a community that is brought together from all different kinds of people with a mutual interest.

The motif of gardening as a way of growing as people and repairing the isolation and bigotry surrounding us every day is really lovely - plus, as a gardener I can't resist descriptions of flowers, plants, and vegetables growing in the dirt, enriching people's lives and bringing both beauty and purpose to a place which was previously vacant and full of garbage.

Finding a community can be a tremendous comfort to a person. It makes you feel less weird and alone, less separate from the world.

A tiny book, but a good one.

Little character development and the chapter about Sam is basically saying how great this white guy is and how much he does for “black people and the ones from different countries”...*rolls eyes. Seriously?

While I realize that the author might be trying to point out cultural insensitivity from different character’s POV, this book is aimed at a very young audience. I don’t think young kids will understand this nuance. I think this book would need to be longer and involve the characters reaching a greater understanding of each other and their unique cultures to convey the importance of cultural awareness.

This is another book that I looked at through the eyes of a teacher more than through the eyes of an adult reader. It is a collection of beautiful stories about a community garden, and the people who create it.This is my favorite quote:
When I heard her words, I realized how useless was all that I’d heard…(77)

This is one reason I love my job. I meet people from all over the world, and I learn so much more from them than I could from a news article or movie.