Seedfolks

I've been meaning to read Seedfolks ever since I saw the author, Paul Fleischman, speak at a conference last year. I finally got around to reading it this week. Seefolks is about several neighbors living in a low socio-economic apartment building in Cleveland, OH. This building is located next to a vacant lot strewed with trash and discarded junk. This lot changes one summer after a young girl decides to clear a small section and plant a few lima beans. This inspires one of her neighbors to clear a small plot for herself and plant her own seeds. Neighbor after neighbor decide to do the same thing until the lot has been completly transformed from a trash-filled lot to a garden paradise. The lot isn't the only thing that is changed by these new gardeners. They, themselves, are transformed from strangers to close friends. The great thing about this book is that it is less than 100 pages and can be read in a single sitting. And, in true Fleischman style, each chapter is written using a different narrator until all the neighbors have told their own story.

Whirligig

This week I read Whirligig by Paul Fleischman. I loved the message of this book. To me, the theme is summed up perfectly on page 70. Fleischman wrote, “The effects of an act traveled far beyond one’s knowledge. Everything we did – good, bad, and indifferent – sent a wave rolling out of sight. He wondered what his own accounting, generations later, would look like.” I tell my students this same message weekly. I ask them, “How are you going to contribute to your community? Are your contributions going to make your community a better place or a worse place?” A lot of the time my students reply, “I don’t do anything. I don’t make contributions.” I try to explain to them that all actions, or inaction, shape the world we live in. I think this book will help them see that.

Sold

Today I read the gut-wrenching novel Sold by Patricia McCormick. It is an excellent adolescent lit book that tells the story of Lakshmi, a 13 year-old Nepali girl who is sold by her step-father into a life of prostitution. She is taken from her mountainside village in Nepal and transported to India to work in a brothel. It is a quick read that shows the harsh reality that so many young girls face in the world. Although, for the most part, the story is bleak, the book ends with a message of hope.