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From Goodreads: A vacant lot,
rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden.
Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care.
Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the
hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil
holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart
with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil's dad, who sees a fortune to be
made from growing lettuce; and even to Maricela, sixteen and pregnant,
wishing she were dead.
Thirteen very different voices -- old,
young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful -- tell one
amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.
Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman, starts with Kim, a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl, who lives in an apartment in Cleveland. Tomorrow is the anniversary of her father's death, who died 8 months before she was born. She's the only one in her family that didn't know him (and he didn't know her) and her mother and oldest sister are crying. It's past midnight and she takes a thermos of water, a spoon and some lima beans and heads to the vacant lot. She digs into the hard ground and plants six seeds.
Over the next few days, one of the neighbors, Ana, notices Kim at the lot and thinks she's burying drugs. She waits until she leaves and goes over to dig up the evidence where she finds the beans. She feels bad and buries them back up. Then she buys binoculars.
Next we learn about Wendell. Ana calls him up to look at the plants that are dying. It's been four days since Kim's come and she feels the need to save the plants. While he's there watering the plants, Kim comes and is afraid of him but he shows her he was just watering the plants. He goes back that evening and notices that the plants are looking better. Then he says, "Out of nowhere the words from the Bible came into my head: 'And a little child shall lead them.' I didn't know why at first. Then I did. There's plenty about my life I can't change. Can't bring the dead back to life on this earth. Can't make the world loving and kind. Can't change myself into a millionaire. But a patch of ground in this trashy lot. I can change that. Change it big. Better to put my time into that than moaning about the other all day." (p. 15)
We meet other members of this community and there's Leona that gets the city to come clean out the lot so whoever wants to can plant a garden. The members of the community meet each other and come together around the garden.
A great message in this book is how much better we treat people when they become a real person to us rather than a random stranger. Have you noticed how much nicer you treat someone who cuts you off when you know them than when you don't? You are probably more understanding of what happened because you know them and what they're dealing with and you can probably laugh with them about it later. And, seriously, haven't we all done something we cringed about, knowing it wasn't the smartest move to make at the time?
I loved reading the different backgrounds of each character and what brought them to this point in their lives. We also see the healing it brings to some as they work with the natural cycle of life. It's a very short book (can be read in an hour) so we don't get a lot of details but just enough to see where they're coming from. It also leaves off with a lot of promise for the future and many more years of friendships in the community garden.
My Rating: 4 stars
My friend Jinky is co-hosting a Giveaway Hop. You can enter her giveaway for the chance to win a $15 gift card to Amazon or $15 toward a book from The Book Depository here.
There are lots of other giveaways you can enter as well (167 total this time).
I have personally known Jinky for many years. We first met in a singles' ward and actually lost contact for quite a while. We were able to reconnect a few years ago through Facebook. She started a book blog in February 2010 and I started following her. I've read her reviews and have found some new books that I have enjoyed (and I've taken her recommendations on some books to stay away from).
When I seriously considered starting my own blog, I contacted her and asked her lots of questions which she patiently answered and she has been extremely helpful to me.
Be sure to enter her generous giveaway (there's no such thing as having too many books) and check out her blog while you're there!
Today started with Horton Hatches the Egg. Mayzie is a lazy bird that's sitting on her egg waiting for it to hatch but she's bored and wants a break. She needs a vacation! Horton the elephant walks by and she asks him to sit on her egg while she takes a quick break--she won't even be missed. Horton agrees and Mayzie flies off. Horton strengthens the tree so he can sit in the nest and he sits there all day and night, through a terrible storm, hoping that Mayzie will be coming back soon. Meanwhile, Mayzie has flown to the beach and is enjoying her vacation so much, she decides that she's not going back.
Horton continues to sit on the egg, even through the wind, snow and sleet because he's determined to keep his word. In spring, all his friends come around and laugh at him and then run off to play. Horton is lonely but keeps saying:
"I meant what I said
And I said what I meant...
An elephant's faithful
One hundred per cent!"
Then hunters come and aim their rifles at him but he still won't run away so the hunters decide to sell him to the circus. They built a wagon and it was a long, miserable trip but they made it to New York and sold him. The circus travels all over and one day comes to the town where Mayzie is staying. She's surprised to see Horton, but before he can say anything to her, the egg starts to hatch. Now that the work's done, Mayzie wants it back. When the baby comes out, there is a pleasant surprise and Horton is able to return to the jungle, where he is 100% happy!
Another great Horton book that shows dedication and hard work will pay off in the end even if it takes a loooong time to see the results. When you're lazy and don't want to try, you also miss out on the reward (which is also obtained through the journey).
My Rating: 4 stars
I think my son's tongue still felt twisted from yesterday so he chose The Shape of Me and Other Stuff today. Reading is still a chore to him and since this was beyond what he has to normally read, he chose a small, easy book. When my children were younger, we would see if they could recognize the outlines of different shapes and had lots of fun with it. They're beyond that now but it's still a fun book to look at.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Last up this week: If I Ran the Circus. Morris McGurk is walking by the vacant lot behind Sneelock's Store and starts daydreaming about his plans for this piece of property. He would clean up the junk and put up The Circus McGurkus. He has big plans and introduces lots of fun animals and acts. I love how he includes Mr. Sneelock in them. He's sure he won't mind doing small odds and ends, such as sell balloons and pink lemonade, collect sizzling hot pebbles that fall off the moon, be lassoed by the tail of a Wily Walloo, stand still while the Blindfolded Bowman shoots an arrow through the crab apple on top of his head, twirl the baton in the parade, slide down a course of Stickle-Bush Trees on his Roller-Skate-Skis, tame the Spotted Atrocious (who is known to eat people), lie down on the Life-Risking-Track while the speedsters race around and jump their cars over him, wrestle a beast called the Grizzly-Ghastly, train the herd of "Through-Horns-Jumping-Deer," and ride the spouts between two whales. The finale is when he rides through the air pulled by three Soobrian Snipe on a contraption attached to his pipe and they take him up high where he shakes himself loose and dives down to earth from 4,692 feet where he lands in a fish bowl (this one really made me laugh).
Another fun book full of imagination and fun pictures.
My Rating: 4 stars
I realized this week that there are lots of Dr. Seuss books I don't have. I thought I had The Sneetches since that is probably my favorite story but I don't so this is a collection I would love to build up.
First up: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. This is one of Dr. Seuss's first stories and isn't told in rhyme at all. I probably wouldn't be familiar with it if it wasn't in the Six by Seuss collection. Bartholomew Cubbins has one plain hat which was passed down from his grandfather and he likes it. He is the son of a poor cranberry farmer and takes off on a Saturday morning to sell his cranberries in town. He lives in the Kingdom of Didd which is ruled by King Derwin. While he's in town, the King comes through and the people need to make way for him to pass by. The King passes him, then backs up and demands Bartholomew to take his hat off. Bartholomew is confused because he did take his hat off. He's surprised to feel another hat on his head so he takes it off and yet another hat pops up on his head. The King gets mad as Bartholomew keeps taking off hats and a new one keeps popping up on his head.
He has him taken to the palace. The Keeper of the Records, Sir Alaric, starts keeping track of how many hats come off. The King calls for the hat maker and he can't figure out what's going on. Then he calls for the Wise Men, his nephew, Yeoman of the Bowmen and his magicians and none of them can figure it out, either. He tells Bartholomew to go to the executioner but the executioner can't chop off his head while he's wearing a hat so he goes back to the King. By now, he's up to 346 hats. The King's nephew says he'll take him up to the turret and push him off. Sir Alaric follows behind to keep counting the hats and when he gets to number 451, the hat changes and each hat from then on becomes fancier than the one before. When Bartholomew gets to the roof, he has the most beautiful hat the King has ever seen and the King wants to buy it. Since it's hat number 500, he offers Bartholomew 500 pieces of gold and Bartholomew agrees. When he takes this hat off, his head is bare! Bartholomew goes home with a bag full of gold and a bare head.
This is a cute story which kept our attention to see what would happen next. I laughed at how much one little thing bothered the King and once he got started on getting rid of the hat, it multiplied and he had to keep going with it until it was taken care of, even if some of his remedies seemed ridiculous.
My Rating: 4 stars
Next up, Fox in Socks. I don't have much to say about this one. This is basically one long tongue twister. My kids loved to listen to this when they were young and it was fun to hear my son read it. He realized how easy mom made it sound. ;-)
My Rating: 4 stars
Our third choice today was Horton Hears a Who! Horton, the elephant, is splashing in the pool, when he hears a small sound. All he can see is a small speck of dust blowing by. He realizes there's someone on the speck and decides to save him. "Because, after all, A person's a person, no matter how small." A kangaroo comes by and tells him how crazy he is for believing anyone lives on the speck of dust and word quickly spreads through the jungle that Horton is crazy. Horton then starts talking to the Mayor of Who-ville and is amazed that so many people live there and becomes more determined to protect them. The jungle monkeys take the clover from Horton and give it to an eagle who flies all night until he drops it into a huge clover patch. Horton looks through 3,000,000 clovers until he finds the right one and when the other jungle creatures come to take it away from him again, he tells the Mayor that they need to make enough noise that everyone else can hear them, too.
The people of Who-ville make as much noise as they can but it's not enough. Horton tells him to make sure everyone is doing their part and the Mayor runs from house to house where he finds a young shirker named Jo-Jo who's bouncing a Yo-Yo. He grabs him and his one sound puts them over the top so the jungle creatures can hear that Who-ville does exist. The kangaroo declares that he will now help Horton protect it and Who-ville is saved!
This is another book that we enjoy and it has Dr. Seuss's most famous line: "A person's a person, no matter how small." We were able to discuss how important everyone is and how one person can make a difference. It also shows dedication and passion because Horton could have easily given up but stuck with his promise to protect Who-ville, no matter how difficult it seemed, like searching through 3,000,000 clovers to find them (what would have happened if he had quit at 2,999,999?).
My Rating: 4 stars
Today began with If I Ran the Zoo. Gerald McGrew takes a trip to the zoo. He starts by saying the zoo seems pretty good, but if he ran the zoo, this is what he would do. He goes into detail of all the exotic animals he would bring in. He travels all over and is able to obtain cool, different (made up, of course) animals. His new zoo, McGrew's Zoo, is very colorful and looks like lots of fun to visit. My daughter said she would love to go there. This is a wonderfully imaginative book and we loved the pictures and story.
My Rating: 4 stars
Next up was The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. I asked my son if he wanted to read The Cat in the Hat first, but he said no because he likes this one better. Sally and her brother are left home to shovel the snow while their mother leaves for the day (I won't go into the weirdness of that). Along comes The Cat in the Hat who goes in the house and makes himself at home. He makes quite a mess and when he needs help to clean it up, he takes off his hat and there is Little Cat A. Little Cats C, B and A are able to clean the house but they blow it all outside so now the snow is a mess. They keep bringing out more Little Cats to help and it gets messier and messier. Until they get to Little Cat Z. He has VOOM in his hat and it magically cleans up the snow. This is another fun book and I remember reading it to my kids when they were young to help them learn the alphabet.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Our final book was Daisy-Head Mayzie. Mayzie McGrew is sitting in school one day when a daisy sprouts from the top of her head. She has no idea how it got there and all the kids start talking about it. The teacher takes her to the principal's office. He's not sure what to do so he starts to read up on what it might be. It starts to droop so they think that's the end of it but then Daisy starts drooping, too, so they dump water on her to keep both of them alive. Then the principal calls her parents, a doctor and a florist. They, of course, each have a different opinion on what should be done. The mayor also comes so he can act important and then an agent shows up offering her and her daisy lots of money. She signs the contract and Daisy-Head fever grips the nation. She likes it at first but gets tired of it and runs away, believing that nobody could possibly love her anymore. She plucks the petals of her daisy to see if she's loved and it turns out she is! (As in, "They love her...They love her NOT!, etc.) She realizes that friends and family are more important than fame and returns home. As for the daisy: it disappeared and would only occasionally pop out of her head. This isn't my favorite Dr. Seuss book but it's still cute and helps kids understand how important they are, even if they sometimes make poor decisions.
My Rating: 3.5 stars
For Day 2, we read Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. There are three stories in this book. The first is Yertle the Turtle. Yertle the Turtle is king of the pond and is quite happy until one day when he decides that his kingdom is too small. He has his "subjects" stand on top of each other so he can see further. He then also becomes the ruler of a cow, mule, house, blueberry bush and a cat. That quickly isn't enough for him so he commands more turtles to stack up so he can now also rule the trees, birds, bees, butterflies and air. He sees the moon and wants to reach that so he can rule it when his throne becomes hungry and tired and the turtle at the bottom (Mack) lets out a burp which causes the throne to fall. Yertle stays king of the mud and the turtles are free to live life as they choose.
The next story is Gertrude McFuzz. She is a girl-bird that has a small plain tail. A fancy bird, Lolla-Lee-Lou, flies by with two tails. Gertrude becomes jealous and wants to have the same tail so she goes to her uncle who's a doctor and asks him to give her something to help her grow another tail. He tries to warn her that the tail she has is perfect for her but she throws a tantrum until he gives in to her and tells her where the berries are. She finds them and eats one but then that tail just isn't enough so she eats all the berries she can find and grows many, many tails. She's excited to go and show off but then she can't move. She yells and her uncle comes with help and the birds are able to bring her home where all the tails are removed. I love the ending:
And, finally, when all of the pulling was done,
Gertrude, behind her, again had just one...
That one little feather she had as a starter.
But now that's enough, because now she is smarter.
The last story is The Big Brag. This starts out with a rabbit who is bragging about how great he is and a bear hears him and starts arguing that he is better. The rabbit says he has the superior sense of hearing and the bear counters that he has the superior sense of smell. A worm crawls out of the ground and says he's tired of listening to their arguing and he has the superior sense of sight. When asked what he saw, he said he looked all around the world and came back to the hill where he saw two fools arguing over who's better than who, and then he goes back into his hole.
One thing I love about reading with my kids is how easy it is to discuss topics and see what they get out of the book. We have some great discussions when we finish reading. I love the morals to these stories: Stepping on others to get to the top will result in a big fall, envy will make you miserable so learn to be happy with what you have and how you look and one-upmanship proves nothing and makes both parties look bad.
My Rating: 4 stars
Yesterday was Day One of our Dr. Seuss celebration and these are the books we each picked to read.
My daughter chose Oh, the Places You'll Go!, which is probably my favorite Dr. Seuss book. This is a popular book to give to a high school graduate but I think the lessons in it need to be taught way before that. One of my favorite parts is, "...Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest. Except when you don't. Because, sometimes, you won't." What a great lesson to learn! He also goes on to talk about unslumping yourself, the Waiting Place, being alone, facing your problems and succeeding. It's good to know that even though life is full of ups and downs, we each have the opportunity to shine in our own way and the path is different for each one of us.
My Rating: 5 stars
My son chose Green Eggs and Ham, which makes me laugh because he's one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet. Of course, I took the opportunity to talk to him about the importance of at least trying new foods because you never know what you might like. He has been more adventurous lately and hasn't liked most things he's tried but has picked up a couple of new things that he'll eat. I totally understand how happy Sam-I-Am feels at the end of the book! I can get into my comfort zone, too, and only eat certain foods so it's good for me to remember to continue to try new foods because I might just find a new favorite!
My Rating: 4.5 stars
My pick was Happy Birthday to You! No particular reason except that I hadn't read it in a long time. My daughter and I both have March birthdays and she would love to live in Katroo so she can party with The Great Birthday Bird! Not to mention have a huge party at the Birthday Pal-alace! Oh, how I love Dr. Seuss and his made up, fun words.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
