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Seedfolks
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From: Matthew Reames <MATTHEWR>
Date: Sun, 25 May 97 18:31 CST
I read _Seedfolks_ this afternoon. Thank you Paul Fleischman for telling us how it came about. I agree with you that it is definitely a book of beginnings. In the neighborhood, in lives of individual characters like Sae Young giving humanity another chance or perhaps (Paul leaves us hanging) Maricela and her unborn child. Perhaps this is why Clint Stowe picks up on the dialogue in which one neighbor promises a new relationship to another when she exclaims: "back then I didn't know it was you."
The characters are chewy, you can't just swallow stereotypes and hope to go on the plot of the story because their personalities are so central to the narrative. As an adult, I liked this, as a teenager, I might find this frustrating.
The book has many young adults in it, but they are not the main actors. The ground first, then the garden draws people to it. It becomes a second heart to them. Paul Fleischman explained that he didn't return to any of the characters in this book because he wanted readers to imagine what happened to them. I almost wish we had a picture of the whole garden showing all the different characters in a panorama. That would help us keep in mind the diversity of people who became "seedfolks" for the next change in this neighborhood. I hope Paul Fleischman returns to this neighborhood.
I hope that adults find this book. It exposes the reader to ideas that will be missed by teenagers.
Matthew Reames
MA candidate
School of Library & Information Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Received on Sun 25 May 1997 07:31:00 PM CDT
Date: Sun, 25 May 97 18:31 CST
I read _Seedfolks_ this afternoon. Thank you Paul Fleischman for telling us how it came about. I agree with you that it is definitely a book of beginnings. In the neighborhood, in lives of individual characters like Sae Young giving humanity another chance or perhaps (Paul leaves us hanging) Maricela and her unborn child. Perhaps this is why Clint Stowe picks up on the dialogue in which one neighbor promises a new relationship to another when she exclaims: "back then I didn't know it was you."
The characters are chewy, you can't just swallow stereotypes and hope to go on the plot of the story because their personalities are so central to the narrative. As an adult, I liked this, as a teenager, I might find this frustrating.
The book has many young adults in it, but they are not the main actors. The ground first, then the garden draws people to it. It becomes a second heart to them. Paul Fleischman explained that he didn't return to any of the characters in this book because he wanted readers to imagine what happened to them. I almost wish we had a picture of the whole garden showing all the different characters in a panorama. That would help us keep in mind the diversity of people who became "seedfolks" for the next change in this neighborhood. I hope Paul Fleischman returns to this neighborhood.
I hope that adults find this book. It exposes the reader to ideas that will be missed by teenagers.
Matthew Reames
MA candidate
School of Library & Information Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Received on Sun 25 May 1997 07:31:00 PM CDT
