From: Barbara Scotto <Barbara_Scotto>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 20:02:27 -0500

When I originally read Seedfolks, I had the same question as Elizabeth
- would this appeal to children? I was thinking about this because I felt (and still feel) that the book lacks tension. ? This is, I think, due to the non-linear narrative structure. While there is a beginning, middle and end, it is not the narrative thrust that drives the story. As a teacher, I sometimes think in terms of graphic organizers, and here you have no neat rising action diagram. Instead you have a kind of sunburst with all of the characters contributing to the development of one center which expands over time.

Back to the original question - will this appeal to children? Kathy reports that the book does, in fact, work with students, and I'm sure that this is at least in part due to her skillful teaching. It is clear that in her classroom she has developed a community of readers who are fascinated with character and theme and the ways in which authors develop their ideas. Narrative structure is a topic that also fascinates middle school students once they are introduced to it by their teachers. The long and the short of it is that I think this is a book with rich potential in the classroom. I'm not sure it's a book that lots of children will love if they find it on their own.

Barbara Scotto Sixth grade teacher Driscoll School Brookline, Ma. barbara_scotto at brookline.mec.edu
Received on Tue 23 Dec 1997 07:02:27 PM CST