Novel sTies

A Study Guide
Written By Carol Alexander
Edited by Joyce Friedland and Rikki Kessler

LEARNING LINKS INC.

 -ARCUS !VENUE s .EW (YDE 0ARK s .EW 9ORK 
 SEEDFOLKS

For the Teacher

This reproducible study guide to use in conjunction with the novel

Seedfolks consists of lessons for guided reading. Written in chapter-by-chapter format,
the guide contains a synopsis, pre-reading activities, vocabulary and comprehension
exercises, as well as extension activities to be used as follow-up to the novel.
In a homogeneous classroom, whole class instruction with one title is appro-
priate. In a heterogeneous classroom, reading groups should be formed: each group
works on a different novel at its own reading level. Depending upon the length of time
devoted to reading in the classroom, each novel, with its guide and accompanying lessons,
may be completed in three to six weeks.
Begin using NOVEL-TIES for reading development by distributing the novel
and a folder to each child. Distribute duplicated pages of the study guide for students
to place in their folders. After examining the cover and glancing through the book,
students can participate in several pre-reading activities. Vocabulary questions should
be considered prior to reading a chapter; all other work should be done after the chapter
has been read. Comprehension questions can be answered orally or in writing. The
classroom teacher should determine the amount of work to be assigned, always keep-
ing in mind that readers must be nurtured and that the ultimate goal is encouraging
students’ love of reading.
The benefits of using NOVEL-TIES are numerous. Students read good
literature in the original, rather than in abridged or edited form. The good reading
habits, formed by practice in focusing on interpretive comprehension and literary tech-
niques, will be transferred to the books students read independently. Passive readers
become active, avid readers.

Novel-Ties® are printed on recycled paper.

The purchase of this study guide entitles an individual teacher to reproduce pages for use
in a classroom. Reproduction for use in an entire school or school system or for commercial use
is prohibited. Beyond the classroom use by an individual teacher, reproduction, transmittal or
retrieval of this work is prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Copyright © 2001, 2007 by LEARNING LINKS INC.

 SEEDFOLKS

SYNOPSIS
Told in the first person by a series of different people who each add a piece to
the story, Seedfolks tells how an abandoned junk-filled lot in a big city becomes a flour-
ishing garden. The carefully structured book first presents a young girl from Vietnam
named Kim who plants a handful of lima beans in the neglected soil. A neighbor, Ana,
sees the girl burying something in the ground and investigates. When Ana and her friend
Wendell discover that Kim has been planting seeds, they want to help make the plants
grow. Soon, other people help to clean up and take care of the old lot, and begin to plant
vegetables and flowers. Some of the gardeners are young, some are old, and many speak
a foreign language. Most of them have been lonely and have had troubles to overcome.
Working in the garden is a productive way of working through their problems.
That is how the garden on Gibb Street begins. People like Gonzalo’s Tío Juan
and an invalid named Mr. Myles find a sense of purpose and dignity as they labor to
make things grow. Two older residents of the block, Laura and Sam, find new energy and
new causes to champion as they attempt to clean up the earth. In the process they clear
up misunderstandings between people of different backgrounds. As these miracles slowly
unfold, the gardeners find that they have become a real community.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Fleischman was born on September 5, 1952, in Monterey, California. His
father was the award-winning author, Sid Fleischman. When Paul Fleischman was grow-
ing up, his father often read to him, giving him a life-long love of literature. The family
owned a printing press, which inspired Paul to see his own work in print. As a child, he
enjoyed listening to a short-wave radio, tuning into stations around the world. This
helped develop his appreciation of different languages and cultures. Readers can see his
love of foreign and native words in his poetry and his fiction.
As an adult, Paul Fleischman attended college at the University of California
at Berkeley and the University of New Mexico, majoring in English. He also traveled
widely, gaining new insights and experiences. Before he became a professional writer, he
worked as a bookstore clerk and proofreader.
Paul Fleischman explains that his books involve a good deal of writing and
rewriting by hand. Sometimes, he will spend an entire day working on one page of a
manuscript. He explores many subjects in his writing, but is especially drawn to topics
about history, nature, and personal growth.
He has received many awards for his writing, including the Newbery Medal for
a collection of poetry, Joyful Noise; the Silver Medal for The Half-a-Moon Inn; and the
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Saturnalia.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Immigration and Ethnicity

America has been called a nation of immigrants. People have come here from
all over the world to find new lives and employment. The first great wave of immigration
began around 1870. Since that time, nearly 7.4 million people have entered the United
States. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they came from such far-flung
places as Great Britain, Ireland, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Germany, Canada, and
China. In later years, large numbers of immigrants have also come from Vietnam, Korea,
Haiti, Mexico, India, Pakistan, Russia, and the Caribbean.
The Midwest shows a typical pattern of immigration. At one time, the city of
Cleveland, where Seedfolks is set, had a large population of Catholic immigrants who
came from Poland, Lithuania, Rumania, Ireland, Italy, and Germany. Then Mexican-
Americans from Texas went to the Midwest to work in factories, in agriculture, and on
the railroads. Later still, large numbers of people from Vietnam and China came to the
city.
Each ethnic group tended to settle in one area of the city. They established
shops that sold their native foods and goods. Many continued to speak their own lan-
guages, while working hard to learn English. Often, they did not earn as much money as
they had expected when they came to America. They lived in the poorer neighborhoods,
moving on if they were successful. As Ana says in the novel, her part of town is “like a
cheap hotel—you stay until you’ve got enough money to leave.”
The city of Cleveland has been referred to as a community of two halves, black
and white. Actually, there are many ethnic neighborhoods in the city. We meet some of the
people from these communities in Seedfolks.

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 SEEDFOLKS

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Preview the book by reading the title and the author’s name and by looking at the
illustration on the cover. What do you think the book will be about? What do you
think the word “seedfolks” could mean? Have you read anything else by the same
author? Thumb through the book and notice the chapter headings. Why do you think
the author has used people’s names instead of numbers to delineate chapters?
2. Social Studies Connection: What do you know about immigration to the United
States? What would you like to find out? Brainstorm with a small group of your class-
mates to fill in a K-W-L chart, such as the one below. Read the Background Information
on page two of this study guide and jot down what you already know in the first column.
List your questions in the second column. When you finish the book, record what you
learned in the third column.
Immigrants in the United States
What I Know What I Want to Know What I Learned
–K– –W– –L–

3. Have you read any other books or stories that deal with the lives of immigrants in recent
times? Jot down whatever you can remember from your reading. When you have finished
reading Seedfolks, compare the facts in your notes to those facts that you have discovered
while reading this novel.
4. Cooperative Learning Activity: Work with a small cooperative learning group to list
and discuss ways in which people can help each other in daily life. As you read this
book, notice how the characters get along and form helpful relationships with one
another.
5. A stereotype is an oversimplified image of a certain person, or group of people usually
held in common by some part of society. Do you or members of your family hold any
views that stereotype others? How can stereotypes be harmful to both the believer and
the victim? Why do you think stereotypes develop? How can they be eliminated?
6. Many of the characters in this book have experienced loneliness. Often, that is a result
of their having retired from jobs that kept them involved with other people. What could
an older person do to reconnect with the world?
7. Social Studies Connection: The setting of the story is Cleveland, Ohio. Find out
more about this large city. Using a map, find Cleveland Heights. See what you can
discover about the cultural or ethnic makeup of the area. You might find this informa-
tion by using the Internet or by reading books or articles, including travel guides.
8. Do some research to learn about community gardens. Who usually plants and main-
tains these gardens? Are there rules about the use of the land? What happens if a
business wants to take over the lot? Are there any community gardens on abandoned
land near you?
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Pre-Reading Activities and Discussion Questions (cont.)

9. Write “Yes” or “No” next to each statement in the “Before You Read” column of the fol-
lowing Anticipation Guide. When you finish the book, see if any of your opinions have
changed as you fill in the “After You Read” column.
ANTICIPATION GUIDE
Statement Before You Read After You Read

1. People who live in poverty-stricken

neighborhoods will never work
cooperatively to improve their lives.

2. A garden requires a great deal of work

and offers little in return.

3. Individuals are always judged by racial

and ethnic stereotypes.

4. People should be judged by who they are,

not by stereotypes.

5. People who live in the city are never as

friendly as those who live in a small town.

6. America is a place where people of many

different races, ethnic groups, and
religions blend together harmoniously.

7. People of different races, ethnic groups,

and religions can never become one
harmonious community.

8. A garden can bring joy and a sense of

community to those who work within
its borders.

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Pre-Reading Activities and Discussion Questions (cont.)

10. As you read about each of the people presented in Seedfolks fill in the character chart
below. Be sure to take notes on each person’s family background, country of origin,
interests, and personality traits.

Character About the Character

Kim

Ana

Wendell

Gonzalo

Leona

Sam

Virgil

Sae Young

Curtis

Nora

Maricella

Amir

Florence

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KIM, ANA

Vocabulary: Draw a line from each word on the left to its definition on the right. Then use
the numbered words to fill in the blanks in the sentences below.

1. stern a. empty; unused

2. altar b. grow vigorously; make steady progress
3. vacant c. with distrust
4. thrive d. strict; unsympathetic
5. suspiciously e. elevated structure used for religious ceremonies
........................................................
1. My brother and I hoped a family with children our ages would move into the
____________________ house next door.

2. Many kinds of plants ____________________ in the hot, moist rain forest.

3. In some cultures, people place food and gifts around a(n) ____________________ to
honor someone who has died.

4. The judge wore a(n) ____________________ expression when he read the guilty verdict.

5. My teacher looked ____________________ at me when I said I had lost my homework.

Read to find out why Kim plants seeds.

Questions:
1. Why did Kim stand before the family altar? How did this make her feel?
2. What evidence revealed that Kim and Ana lived in a poor neighborhood?
3. Why did Kim suffer from the cold in April?
4. Why did Kim plant the lima bean seeds in the vacant lot? Why did she choose this
time for her project?
5. What has happened to Ana’s neighborhood since she was a child? Why did Ana stay
in her old neighborhood?
6. Why did Ana dig up Kim’s bean seeds? How did she feel when she realized what she
had done?

Questions for Discussion:

1. How do you imagine Kim feels about her life in this strange new city?
2. Why do you think Ana bought binoculars?
3. Do you think Kim and Ana will meet?

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Kim, Ana (cont.)

Literary Devices:
I. Personification—Personification is a literary device in which an author grants human
qualities to nonhuman objects. For example:
An icy wind teetered trash cans and turned my cheeks to marble.
What is being personified?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
What does this reveal about the narrator’s feelings?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
II. Simile—A simile is a figure of speech in which two unlike objects are compared using
the words “like” or “as.” For example:
It’s [Ana’s neighborhood] like a cheap hotel—you stay until you’ve
got enough money to leave.
What is being compared?
__________________________________________________________________________________
Why is this an apt comparison?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element: Characterization

Fill in notes about Kim and Ana on the character chart that appears on page five of this
study guide. Compare your notes with those of your classmates.

Social Studies Connection:

On a world map, locate Vietnam. Do some research to learn how people live and work in
rural Vietnam. Then compare the lifestyle of a person from the Vietnamese countryside
with that of a city dweller in the United States. Bring some photographs of Vietnam into
class.

Writing Activity:
Kim misses her father, and her feelings of grief and loss motivate her actions to do some-
thing special. Is there someone in your life who has inspired you to do something you
have never done before? Write about this person and his or her influence on you.

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WENDELL, GONZALO

Vocabulary: Use the context to help you determine the meaning of the underlined word
in each of the following sentences. Then check your definition with a dictionary definition.

1. If you move while you take a snapshot, it will not be in focus.

Your definition ____________________________________________________________________
Dictionary definition ______________________________________________________________

2. Making a gesture that signified “stop,” I hoped to prevent my friend from crossing a
busy street against the light.
Your definition ____________________________________________________________________
Dictionary definition ______________________________________________________________

3. If you forget to add fresh water to the flowers in the vase, they will wilt and then die.
Your definition ____________________________________________________________________
Dictionary definition ______________________________________________________________

4. The clothing, food, and customs of teenagers living in the city seemed weird to the
girl who had always lived in the country.
Your definition ____________________________________________________________________
Dictionary definition ______________________________________________________________

5. Use a trowel to plant seeds in the backyard.

Your definition ____________________________________________________________________
Dictionary definition ______________________________________________________________

Read to find out how the garden affected Tío Juan.

Questions:
1. Why were Ana and Wendell important to one another?
2. Why did Ana and Wendell try so hard to save Kim’s bean plants?
3. How did the idea of a garden affect Wendell’s personal life?
4. What did Gonzalo mean when he said, “The older you are, the younger you get when
you move to the United States”?
5. How did Gonzalo’s mother show that she understood Tío Juan’s needs?
6. What caused Tío Juan to change “from a baby back into a man”?

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Wendell, Gonzalo (cont.)

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why did Wendell recall the biblical passage, “And a little child shall lead them”?
2. Tío Juan spoke a dialect that people in his new community did not understand. How
do you think he felt when he was unable to express himself through language? What
else did Tío Juan have to get used to in this foreign city?
3. Why do you think Gonzalo was embarrassed by his father and his uncle?
4. What do you think Gonzalo learned from watching Tío Juan working in the lot? How
did his feelings about this older relative change?

Literary Device: Point of View

Point of view in literature refers to the person telling the story. This person is called the
narrator. The narrator might be the author or a character in the story. From whose point
of view is each story told?
______________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you think the author keeps changing the point of view?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element: Characterization

Return to the character chart on page five of this study guide and add notes about
Wendell and Gonzalo.

Writing Activity/Art Connection:

Seedfolks tells the story of people who are trying to bring new life to a piece of their city.
Browse through some magazines and newspapers and find illustrations that depict life in
the place where you live. Cut them out and arrange the illustrations in a collage. Then
write a description of the place in your collage.

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LEONA, SAM

Vocabulary: Use the words in the Word Box and the clues below to complete the
crossword puzzle.

WORD BOX
compromised
coolies
crops
garbage
mention
obituary
officials
pacifism
paradise
personal
retired

Across Down
2. biography of someone who has died 1. perfect place
3. refer to casually 2. authorities; people in charge
4. trash 5. private
5. opposition to war in general 6. Asian workers; peasants
8. agreed to give up some demands 7. no longer working
9. foods that are grown

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Leona, Sam (cont.)

Read to find out why Sam becomes critical of the garden.

Questions:
1. Why did Leona want to plant goldenrod?
2. How did the city officials react to Leona’s telephone calls?
3. What did Leona mean when she observed, “You can’t measure the distance between
my block and City Hall in miles”?
4. Why did Leona bring a bag of garbage from the lot to the Public Health Department?
5. What kind of work did Sam do before he retired? In what ways did he continue to
work toward the same goal?
6. Why did the gardeners have to work so hard to keep the soil moist?
7. What did Sam mean when he said, “The garden was a copy of the neighborhood”?

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why do you imagine the city officials allowed garbage to pile up in the vacant lot?
Why was this a health problem for people in that community?
2. Sam first compared the garden to Paradise, but at the end of the chapter said, “the
garden was turning back into Cleveland.” Why did Sam’s feelings about the garden
change?
3. How do you think Sam might promote better harmony among the gardeners?

Literary Devices:
I. Analogy—An analogy is a comparison of two or more similar objects which suggest
that if they are alike in certain aspects, they will probably be alike in other ways as
well. For example:
You ever watch a sax player close? They push down a key and way
at the other end of the instrument something moves. That’s what I
was looking for—the key that would make that trash disappear.
Why did Leona make this comparison?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

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Leona, Sam (cont.)

II. Irony—Irony refers to a situation that turns out to be the opposite of what is expected.
What is ironic about the long life of Leona’s grandmother?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element: Characterization

Fill in information about Leona and Sam on the character chart on page five of this study
guide.

Social Studies Connection:

An ethnic group is a group of people with a common religion, race, nationality, or culture.
A town or city is usually made up of a number of such groups. Often, people of one ethnic
group will cluster in a particular neighborhood. Ethnic groups may have their own spe-
cial kinds of food, language, worship, and other traditions. There are many good reasons
to preserve an ethnic identity. Unfortunately, it is also true that members of different eth-
nic groups may distrust and keep themselves apart from others.
Do some firsthand research about your own town or city. Notice the names of restaurants,
shops, churches, schools, and other organizations in each area. What languages are spoken
there? What ethnic groups comprise your community?

Writing Activities:
1. Write a description of the neighborhood in which you live. Include details that show
what the neighborhood looks like and who lives there. Mention special features of the
area, such as its parks, lakes or seaports, museums, and shopping centers.
2. Have you ever tried to solve a problem or settle a quarrel that involves other people?
What was the problem or dispute? What was the result of your efforts to make peace?
Write a story about this experience.

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VIRGIL, SAE YOUNG

Vocabulary: Analogies are equations in which the first pair of words has the same rela-
tionship as the second pair of words. For example, FRIEND is to ENEMY as TRUE is to
FALSE. Both sets of words are opposites. Use the words in the Word Box to complete the
analogies below.

WORD BOX
coincidence extended humid plantation pronounced

1. ASKED is to QUESTIONED as STATED is to ________________________.

2. WATERMELON is to FRUIT as ________________________ is to FARM.

3. RETRACTED is to ________________________ as RACED is to WANDERED

4. ________________________ is to ACCIDENT as CONTEST is to COMPETITION.

5. DESERT is to DRY as SWAMP is to ________________________.

Read to find out how the garden is creating a community.

Questions:
1. Why did Virgil’s father lie to Miss Fleck?
2. How did Miss Fleck respond to the lie?
3. Why did the lettuce crop fail?
4. Why did Sae Young become afraid of people? How did working in the garden help Sae
Young overcome her fear?
5. Why was the use of the funnels the best idea for gathering water?

Questions for Discussion:

1. What lesson might be learned from Virgil’s father’s failed garden?
2. What is there about a garden that could be good for so many different people?

Literary Device: Symbolism

A symbol in literature is an object, event, or person that represents an idea or a set of
ideas. What do you think the locket that Virgil found might symbolize?
__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

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Virgil, Sae Young (cont.)

Literary Elements:
I. Conflict—A conflict is a struggle between two opposing forces. An external conflict is
a character’s struggle against an outside force, such as nature or another person. An
internal struggle takes place in a character’s own mind. Use a chart, such as the one
below, to list the conflicts that have occurred in the story up to this point. Under
“Resolutions,” note whether each conflict has been resolved, or settled. You can add to
the chart as you read.

External Conflicts Resolutions

Internal Conflicts Resolutions

II. Characterization—Return to the character chart on page five of this study guide. Fill
in information about Virgil and Sae Young. Also, add any more information that you
may have learned about the other characters.

Writing Activities:
1. Was there ever a time when you started a project that ended badly? Why do you
think your idea did not work? What would you do differently if you tackled this proj-
ect again? Write a paragraph in which you compare and contrast what you actually
did with what you should have done.
2. Relate a real or imagined experience with a garden. Tell where you did your planting,
what you planted, and how well the garden grew.

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CURTIS, NORA

Vocabulary: Synonyms are words with similar meanings. Draw a line from each word in
column A to its synonym in column B. Then use the words in column A to fill in the blanks
in the sentences below.

A B
1. solitary a. fragrance
2. haphazard b. stately
3. customary c. usual
4. aroma d. disorganized
5. refuge e. shelter
6. dignified f. alone
........................................................

1. We took ____________________ from the storm in an empty building.

2. We awakened to the clatter of breakfast dishes and the ____________________ of coffee

brewing.

3. It is ____________________ to wear a cap and gown at your graduation ceremony.

4. Wearing a suit and tie, you will appear more ____________________ than if you wore
jeans and a tee shirt.

5. After a fire destroyed the entire house, we were grateful for the ____________________
family photograph that remained.

6. Despite our ____________________ attempts at shopping and food preparation, the

dinner was a success.

Read to find out how the community of gardeners continued to grow.

Questions:
1. Why did Curtis plant tomatoes in the lot?
2. How did Curtis and Royce help each other?
3. Why did Nora call Mr. Myles’s work in the garden “a mind altering drug”?
4. How did Mr. Myles and Nora become an accepted part of the Gibb Street gardening
community?

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Curtis, Nora (cont.)

Questions for Discussion:

Why do you think the experience of gardening benefitted all the characters in the story?
What are some ways that working with growing things can be good for a person?

Literary Device: Metaphor

A metaphor is an implied or suggested comparison between two unlike objects. For
example:
He [Mr. Myles] was a salmon traveling upstream through his past.
What is being compared?
______________________________________________________________________________________

What does this comparison reveal about Mr. Myles?

______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element: Characterization

Return to the character chart on page five of this study guide. Add information about
Curtis and Nora. Work with a partner to compare information about the characters you
have read about so far.

Writing Activities:
1. Imagine that you are Lateesha, observing Curtis at work in the garden. Write a
journal entry in which you express your thoughts and feelings about Curtis and his
project.
2. If Mr. Myles could still speak, what do you think he would say to Nora about the time
they spend in the city garden? Write a dialogue that might have taken place between
these two characters.

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MARICELA, AMIR, FLORENCE

Vocabulary: Use the context to help you select the best meaning for the underlined word
in each of the following sentences. Circle the letter of the answer you chose.

1. Alaska is a vast state, occupying 586,412 square miles of land.

a. huge b. fascinating c. popular d. dangerous

2. When Alice visited the queen in her palace, she observed the rules of decorum.
a. adults b. games c. conduct d. royalty

3. Word of the pilot’s exploit soon made him a national hero.

a. new airplane b. daring deed c. serious problem d. insult

4. Tiny plants sprang through the crevices in the pavement.

a. holes b. coarse cement c. pebbles d. narrow cracks

5. Good health is a benefit of a balanced diet.

a. cause b. problem c. advantage d. hazard

Read to find out how the garden changed an entire community.

Questions:
1. Why did Maricela feel like an outcast?

2. How did Maricela become involved in the community garden?

3. Why did Maricela “tune out” advice about giving birth and raising children?

4. What evidence showed that Maricela was beginning to appreciate the garden?

5. Why was Amir critical of America?

6. How did the garden change Amir’s perception of America?

7. Why did Amir retell the story of the Polish woman who had been in a concentration
camp?
8. What did Florence mean by “seedfolks”? What two ways could you explain this word
in terms of the story?
9. Why did Florence think that spring was a special season?

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Maricela, Amir, Florence (cont.)

Questions for Discussion:

1. Why do you think Leona told Maricela that she was part of a “system”?

2. How had stereotypes damaged the lives of people who lived near Gibb Street?

3. Can you think of anything besides a garden that could have united the community
and brought joy to so many people’s lives?

4. Why do you think the author chose to end the book with Florence’s story? How does
this narrative serve to connect all the separate stories in Seedfolks?

Literary Device: Simile

What is being compared in the following simile?
The ground was back, and last year’s leaves, like a bookmark
showing where you’d left off.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Why is this an apt comparison?

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Literary Element: Theme

The theme of a literary work is the author’s main idea or message. What do you think are
the most important themes of Seedfolks? What does this writer believe about hope, coop-
eration, friendship, and survival? Make a list of these significant themes. Explain how
the author works these themes into the novel.

Writing Activity:
Select a pair of characters in the story who do not seem to have much in common, such as
Ana and Maricela, or Curtis and Wendell. Write a dialogue that shows what each might
have said to the other on the day of the harvest festival.

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CLOZE ACTIVITY

The following passage has been taken from Sam’s story. Read the entire passage before filling
in the blanks. Then, reread the passage and select words that make sense. Finally, you may
compare your words with those of the author.

You’ve seen fishermen mending the rips in their nets. That’s what I do, only

1 2
with _________________. I used to try to patch _________________ the whole world.

3
For thirty-six years _________________ worked for different groups, promoting world

4 5
_________________, setting up conferences on pacifism, raising _________________,

6
stuffing envelopes. Not that I’ve given _________________ the fight. I’ve just switched

7 8
battlefields, _________________ the entire planet to this corner _________________

9
Cleveland. Sometimes I think I’ve actually _________________ more effect on the world

10 11
since _________________ retired. What do I do? I smile _________________ people,

12
especially black people and the _________________ from different countries. I get ’em

13 14
_________________ up at me instead of down _________________ off to the side. I start

15 16
_________________. conversations in lines and on the _________________ and with

17
cashiers. People see I’m _________________, no matter what they’ve heard about

18 19
_________________ or Jews. If I’m lucky, I get ’em _________________ to each other.

Sewing up the rips in the neighborhood.

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 SEEDFOLKS

POST-READING ACTIVITIES

1. Return to the Anticipation Guide that you began in the Pre-Reading Activities on
page four of this study guide. Write “Yes” or “No” after each of the statements in the
“After You Read” column. Did the book cause you to change any of your opinions?

2. Return to the K-W-L chart you began on page three of this study guide. Record what
you learned in the third column. Compare your notes with those of your classmates.

3. Return to the character chart you began on page five of this study guide that you have
been filling in. Look over the chart and add more information. Compare your responses
to those of your classmates.

4. Why do you think the book was titled Seedfolks? If you had to choose a different title
for the novel, what would it be? Why?

5. Cooperative Learning Activity: The characters in Seedfolks have a harvest festival.

Write a scene for a play that dramatizes what happens at the festival. Then act out
your scene with a group of classmates. Or conduct your own class harvest festival in
which you feature the foods of various ethnic groups.

6. Seedfolks is a novel with many voices. It begins with the young girl named Kim and
ends with Florence, an older woman. Why do you think the author chose to open and
close the book with the narratives of these two characters?

7. The stories that make up Seedfolks are first-person narratives, which means they are
told from a particular character’s point of view. Try turning one of these stories into
a third-person narrative. Recount what happens to one of the characters using your
own observations and ideas. Or write a narrative told by a character whom you
create. Tell this character’s story against the setting of the garden.

8. Art Connection: Based on the information in the book, draw or paint a picture of
the Gibb Street Garden. Include paintings, people, and other details in your artwork.

9. Science Connection: If possible, work with your classmates to create a garden of

vegetables and/or fruit. You might start the seeds in egg cartons and transplant them
to containers or a plot of earth when they become seedlings. Be sure to read the seed
packets carefully or do some independent research to learn about the best growing
conditions for each variety of plant.

10. Florence remembers that her grandmother’s sampler said, “Be Not Solitary, Be Not
Idle.” What do you think these words mean? How do they fit the overall theme of
Seedfolks?

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 SEEDFOLKS

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Adler, C.S. Youn Hee & Me. Harcourt.

Carlson, Lori, ed. Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing U in the United States.
Henry Holt.
Cohen, Barbara. Make a Wish, Molly. Random House.
* _______________. Molly’s Pilgrim. HarperCollins.
Fitzhugh, Louise. Nobody’s Family is Going to Change. Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
* Hamilton, Virginia. M.C. Higgins, The Great. Simon & Schuster.
* __________________. The Planet of Jr. Brown. Simon & Schuster.
__________________. Zeely. Simon & Schuster.
Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane. Hoang Anh: A Vietnamese-American Boy. Holiday House.
Huff, Barbara A. Greening the City Streets: The Story of Community Gardens.
Random House.
* Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America. Simon & Schuster.
* Paterson, Katherine. The Great Gilly Hopkins. HarperCollins.
Richardson, Judith Benet. First Came the Owl. Henry Holt.
* Ryan, Muñoz. Esperanza Rising. Scholastic.
* Schmidt, Gary. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. Random House.
Siskind, Leda. The Hopscotch Tree. Random House.
Soto, Gary. Baseball in April and Other Stories. Harcourt.
* Taylor, Mildred. The Gold Cadillac. Penguin.

Some Other Books by Paul Fleischman

The Borning Room. HarperCollins.
Bull Run. HarperCollins.
Dateline: Troy. Candlewick Press.
Graven Images. HarperCollins.
Jim Ugly. Random House.
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. HarperCollins.
The Half-a-Moon Inn. HarperCollins.
Saturnalia. HarperCollins.
Time Train. HarperCollins.
Weslandia. Candlewick Press.
Whirligig. Random House.

* NOVEL-TIES study guides are available for these titles.

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 SEEDFOLKS

ANSWER KEY
Kim, Ana
Vocabulary : 1. d 2. e 3. a 4. b 5. c; 1. vacant 2. thrive 3. altar 4. stern 5. suspiciously
Questions: 1. Kim stood before the family altar because she was trying to remember her father who had died
when she was only eight months old. This made her sad. 2. It was clear that Kim and Ana lived
in a poor, shabby neighborhood because of the descriptions of trash and tires, rats, and
abandoned buildings. 3. Having come from Vietnam’s tropical climate, Kim suffered from the rel-
atively cool temperatures of Cleveland in April. 4. Kim planted the lima bean seeds on the
anniversary of her father’s death because she wanted her father’s spirit to see and approve of
what she did; her father had been a farmer in his native land and would value Kim’s desire to
make things grow. 5. Since Ana’s childhood, the neighborhood has become poorer; waves of immi-
grants from different countries have moved in, leaving when they became more prosperous. Ana
stayed in her old neighborhood because she did not have the money to move to a wealthier neigh-
borhood; she was retired from her job and lived on her savings. 6. Ana dug up Kim’s bean seeds
because she thought Kim might be burying something dangerous or illegal. When she realized
what she had done, she felt guilty and wanted to repair the damage.

Wendell, Gonzalo
Vocabulary: 1. focus–centered with clarity 2. gesture–body movement that is expressive of an idea 3. wilt–
droop 4. weird–strange; odd 5. trowel–small gardening tool
Questions: 1. Ana and Wendell had a friendship based on concern for each other. They were important to one
another because each lived alone and had nobody else to turn to for help or company. 2. Ana and
Wendell tried hard to save Kim’s bean plants because they saw how important the plants were
to Kim; they were also moved by the child’s desire to make something grow in an abandoned
patch of earth in the city. 3. When Wendell discovered that Kim was working in the lot, he was
able to put aside his grief and loneliness to make something beautiful; he felt now that he could
change something for the better. 4. When Gonzalo said, “The older you are, the younger you get
when you move to the United States,” he meant that for an adult who loses the ability to com-
municate and work, moving to this new country could mean giving up independence and author-
ity. This could make an adult feel like a helpless child. 5. Gonzalo’s mother showed that she
understood Tío Juan’s needs by ordering her son to take Tío Juan back to the vacant lot so that
he could garden; she knew that as a farmer, he yearned to make things grow. 6. Tío Juan changed
“from a baby back into a man” when he got the chance to do what he did best: make things grow
in the earth. When he was able to work, he regained his sense of self and purpose.

Leona, Sam
Vocabulary: Across–2. obituary 3. mention 4. garbage 5. pacifism 8. compromised 9. crops; Down–1. para-
dise 2. officials 5. personal 6. coolies 7. retired
Questions: 1. Leona wanted to plant a patch of goldenrod in the lot as a reminder of her grandmother who
attributed her longevity to goldenrod tea. 2. When Leona called the city officials to complain
about the stench of the garbage piled up in the vacant lot, she was passed from one official to the
next, but received no help with her problem. 3. When Leona observed, “You can’t measure the dis-
tance between my block and City Hall in miles,” she meant that the poor neighborhood she lived
in was far from the thoughts of the public officials, and that the gap between poor and wealthy
people was very wide. 4. Leona brought a bag of garbage from the lot to the Public Health
Department to shock the officials into action; she knew that if they experienced the problem for
themselves, they would be more likely to send workers to clean up the lot. 5. Before he retired,
Sam worked for organizations that sought world peace. He still worked toward that goal by
encouraging friendly communication between people and deliberately ignoring their fears and
prejudices. 6. The gardeners had to work hard because there was no spigot or other source of
water in the lot, which meant they had to lug buckets of water from the buildings around the lot.
7. When Sam said, “The garden was a copy of the neighborhood,” he meant that the little world
represented by the garden was still not a harmonious society. Instead of getting to know each
other better, the gardeners worked exclusively alongside people of their own ethnic background
or race. They even began putting up fences around their own enclaves. That was also true of
Cleveland Heights.

Virgil, Sae Young

Vocabulary: 1. pronounced 2. plantation 3. extended 4. coincidence 5. humid
Questions: 1. Virgil’s father lied to Miss Fleck about the ownership of the plots of land on which he planted
lettuce, claiming that much of the lettuce was planted for relatives who could not do the work
themselves: he needed to justify his disproportionate use of the community land. 2. Miss Fleck

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 SEEDFOLKS

responded to the lie she was told with polite disbelief; she questioned Virgil’s father in a pointed
way, and called the desire of all his relatives to plant lettuce a “coincidence,” but meant just the
opposite. 3. The lettuce crop failed because it was planted in the wrong season. In order to have
succeeded with the lettuce crop, Virgil’s father would have had to plant in the spring or fall. He
should also have done some research into the best way to grow lettuce. 4. Sae Young became
afraid of people because she had been robbed and beaten in her dry cleaning store. Becoming one
of the gardeners and speaking with others helped her get over her fears and made her a part of
a community again. 5. The use of the funnels for gathering water was the best idea because it
was simple, required little physical labor, and cost almost nothing.

Curtis, Nora
Vocabulary: 1. f 2. d 3. c 4. a 5. e 6. b; 1. refuge 2. aroma 3. customary 5. dignified 5. solitary
6. haphazard
Questions: 1. Curtis planted tomatoes in the lot because he wanted to prove to his former girlfriend,
Lateesha, that he cared for her and wanted to take on adult responsibilities; her window faced
the lot, so she could watch the progress of his gardening work. 2. Curtis helped Royce by buying
him a sleeping bag and food and, in return, Royce guarded Curtis’s tomato plants. 3. Nora called
Mr. Myles’s work in the garden “a mind altering drug” because the work excited and energized
him, giving him a fresh interest in life. 4. Mr. Myles and Nora became part of the Gibb Street
gardening community when a rain shower forced them to shelter under a nearby awning where
the other gardeners gathered. They all became acquainted and soon Mr. Myles and Nora were an
accepted part of the community of gardeners.

Maricela, Amir, Florence

Vocabulary: 1. a 2. c 3. b 4. d 5. c
Questions: 1. Maricela felt like an outcast because as a pregnant, Mexican teenager she embodied three stig-
matized qualities. 2. Maricela was coerced into becoming involved in the community garden
when the director of her program for pregnant teenagers obtained a spot in the garden so that
the girls could have practice taking care of living things. 3. Maricela “tuned out” advice about giv-
ing birth and raising children because she did not accept her pregnancy and did not look forward
to having the baby; she seemed to be pretending this natural process was not happening to her.
4. It became clear that Maricela was beginning to appreciate the garden when she was willing to
listen to Leona describe her body as being part of the cycle of nature. She seemed ready to accept
this analogy as she now saw the garden as a microcosm of the natural world. 5. Amir was criti-
cal of America because he believed that people here, unlike in his village in India, avoided mak-
ing new friendships. People did not seem neighborly, preferring to remain independent of others.
6. The cooperative spirit and friendliness that the garden developed among neighbors who were
once noncommunicative changed Amir’s perception of America. 7. Amir retold the story of the
Polish woman who had been in a concentration camp in order to show that he had learned to see
people as individuals, rather than stereotypes. 8. By “seedfolks,” Florence meant the first people
to settle into an area and make it their home. You could explain the word as “the first settlers”
or as “ the first people to plant seeds in a place.” 9. Spring was special to Florence because she
was from the country and was used to seeing things grow; the season represented rebirth and
endless possibilities as earth renewed itself in the natural cycle.

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 ®
LITTLE NOVEL sT IES
STUDY GUIDES FOR PRIMARY PICTURE BOOKS
Abby..........................................L0813 Clifford the Big Red Dog ...........L0685 Ira Sleeps Over .........................L0696 Ox-Cart Man..............................L0646
Alexander, and the Terrible, Horrible, Clifford the Small Red Puppy....L0342 The Last Puppy .........................L0736 Pinkerton, Behave! ....................L2130
No Good, Very Bad Day ......L0043 Cloudy with a Chance The Legend of the Bluebonnet ..L2929 Roxaboxen ................................L1187
Alexander Who Used to Be of Meatballs.........................L3135 Leo the Late Bloomer................L0690 The Snowy Day .........................L0658
Rich Last Sunday ................L2045 Corduroy ...................................L0344 The Little Island ........................L0715 Stevie ........................................L1360
Amelia Bedelia ..........................L0206 Crictor .......................................L1198 Lyle, Lyle Crocodile...................L1536 Stone Soup (Brown) .................L0412
Anansi the Spider......................L0897 Curious George .........................L0345 Madeline ...................................L0505 The Story of Ferdinand .............L0414
Anna Banana and Me ................L0266 Dandelion ..................................L1226 Madeline’s Rescue ....................L0662 Strega Nona ..............................L1647
Arthur’s Baby ............................L1047 Franklin Fibs..............................L2398 Make Way For Ducklings ..........L0380 Sylvester/Magic Pebble .............L0653
A Big Fat Enormous Lie ............L0795 Gilberto and the Wind ...............L1668 May I Bring a Friend? ...............L0382 Timothy Goes to School ...........L1225
Blueberries for Sal ...................L0331 Goodnight Moon .......................L0687 Mike Mulligan and Umbrella ...................................L1368
Bringing/Rain to Kapiti Plain .....L2666 Gregory the Terrible Eater .........L0704 His Steam Shovel ...............L0774 Where the Wild Things Are .......L0422
Caps For Sale ............................L0336 Harry the Dirty Dog ...................L0771 Millions of Cats .........................L0691 Whistle For Willie ......................L0801
A Chair For My Mother .............L1370 Humphrey’s Bear ......................L1186 Miss Nelson is Missing .............L0707 Why Mosquitoes Buzz in
Miss Rumphius .........................L0932 People’s Ears.......................L0423

NOVEL s T IES ®
STUDY GUIDES
GRADE 1 Julian’s Glorious Summer ..........S0549 Judy Moody Saves/World ...........S0309 The Great Brain ...........................S0037
Arthur’s Camp-Out ....................S2543 Junie B., First Grader (at last!) ...S3612 Justin and the Best Biscuits Henry Huggins ............................S0160
A Bargain for Frances .................S0321 Junie B. Jones and the Stupid in the World...........................S3138 House with/Clock in its Walls .....S1405
Biscuit .........................................S0290 Smelly Bus .............................S1753 The Littles ...................................S0553 Iggie’s House ..............................S0163
Buzby ..........................................S0157 Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie ..S3260 Maurice’s Room..........................S1063 The Indian in the Cupboard ........S0992
The Case of/Hungry Stranger......S1211 Kidnapped at Birth? Mishmash ...................................S3745 James and the Giant Peach ........S0170
Danny and the Dinosaur .............S0347 (Marvin Redpost) ...................S3313 The Most Beautiful Place/World..S0299 The Janitor’s Boy ........................S3761
Forest ..........................................S0272 The Knight at Dawn The Mouse and the Motorcycle ..S0181 Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William
Frog and Toad All Year ...............S3409 (Magic Tree House) ................S1943 A Mouse Called Wolf ..................S0135 McKinley, & Me, Elizabeth .....S0258
Frog and Toad Are Friends..........S0363 Little Soup’s Hayride ...................S1402 Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle .....................S0298 Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key ....S0908
Frog and Toad Together..............S0364 Molly’s Pilgrim ............................S1375 Muggie Maggie ...........................S0127 Journey to Jo’burg......................S1066
George and Martha .....................S1451 Monster/3rd Dresser Drawer ......S0558 My Father’s Dragon ....................S0202 The Kid in the Red Jacket ...........S2227
The Grandma Mix-up ..................S1826 Mummies in the Morning ...........S2560 My Name is Maria Isabel ............S2140 The Landry News ........................S1021
Grandmas at Bat .........................S2716 (Magic Tree House) The Night Crossing .....................S3118 The Lion, the Witch and the
Grandmas at the Lake .................S1830 Nate the Great .............................S0602 O’Diddy .......................................S1064 Wardrobe................................S0060
The Great Snake Escape .............S0943 Nate the Great /Missing Key .......S0267 Ralph S. Mouse ..........................S2616 A Lion to Guard Us .....................S0835
Here Comes the Strikeout ...........S1704 Nate the Great /Musical Note ......S1403 Ramona Forever..........................S0186 Little House in the Big Woods ....S0467
Kick, Pass, and Run ....................S2730 Next Spring an Oriole..................S1060 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 ..............S1158 Little House on the Prairie ..........S0263
The Lighthouse Children .............S2731 The One in the Middle is a Ramona the Brave ......................S0565 A Long Way From Chicago .........S2379
Little Bear....................................S0162 Green Kangaroo......................S0994 Ramona’s World .........................S0886 Loser...........................................S3642
Little Bear’s Friend ......................S1389 The Outside Dog .........................S2547 The Secret Soldier ......................S0279 Lunch Money ..............................S3801
Little Bear’s Visit .........................S0504 Rip-Roaring Russell ....................S0920 The Shoeshine Girl......................S0993 Maggie Marmelstein for
Little Runner of the Longhouse ..S1318 Russell Sprouts ..........................S0921 Shortstop From Tokyo ................S0938 President ..................................S006
Mouse Tales................................S0121 Sam the Minuteman....................S1308 Sidewalk Story ............................S2549 The Midnight Fox ........................S0155
Mrs. Brice’s Mice ........................S2073 Seven Kisses in a Row................S0528 Silver...........................................S1075 The Miraculous Journey of
Newt............................................S2930 Snowshoe Thompson .................S2273 The Skirt .....................................S0140 Edward Tulane ........................S3799
Oliver ..........................................S3760 Song Lee in Room 4B .................S1839 Surprise Island Mississippi Bridge ......................S2736
Sammy the Seal ..........................S3284 The Stories Huey Tells ................S3116 (Boxcar Children) ...................S2000 Misty of Chincoteague ................S0068
The Smallest Cow in the World...S0101 The Stories Julian Tells ...............S0765 A Taste of Blackberries ...............S0201 Mr. Popper’s Penguins ...............S0560
Tales of Oliver Pig ......................S2544 Thunder at Gettysburg ................S0420 There’s an Owl in the Shower .....S3144 My Brother Stevie .......................S0122
Uncle Foster’s Hat Tree ...............S3115 Tornado ......................................S2734 The Trouble with Tuck ................S1404 Nightjohn ....................................S2675
Wagon Wheels ............................S1321 Tye May and the Magic Brush ....S0158 The Year of the Panda ................S2171 Nory Ryan’s Song .......................S3643
Who Cloned the President? GRADE 4 Our Only May Amelia ..................S2720
GRADE 2 (Capitol Mysteries) .................S3568 The Penderwicks .........................S3795
Anna, Grandpa and /Big Storm ....S2545 All-of-a-Kind Family ....................S0005 Pippi Longstocking .....................S0563
Annie and the Old One ................S0758 GRADE 3 Almost Starring Skinnybones .....S2161 Poppy..........................................S2603
Balto: The Bravest Dog Ever .......S3744 26 Fairmount Avenue ..................S3613 Anastasia Krupnik .......................S0985 Robin Hood/Sherwood Forest .....S1233
A Bear for Miguel ........................S2931 Adventures/Ali Baba Bernstein ....S0918 Arthur, for the Very First Time ....S0522 Sadako/Thousand Paper Cranes .S0091
The Beast/Ms. Rooney’s Room...S0475 Aldo Applesauce .........................S0917 Baby ............................................S2680 Sarah, Plain and Tall ...................S0401
The Big Balloon Race ..................S1322 Amber Brown Goes Fourth .........S1009 The Ballad of Lucy Whipple ........S0250 Search for Delicious....................S0277
Blackberries in the Dark ..............S0148 Amber Brown is Not a Crayon ....S2729 Because of Winn-Dixie ................S0959 Shiloh..........................................S1372
The Boston Coffee Party .............S1302 Be a Perfect Person /Three Days .S0515 Best Christmas Pageant Ever ......S2624 Shiloh Season .............................S3120
The Boy with the Helium Head....S3384 Ben and Me .................................S1061 The BFG ......................................S1393 Skinnybones ...............................S0939
Buffalo Bill and/Pony Express .....S2732 The Boxcar Children....................S0378 The Big Wave ..............................S0123 Skylark .......................................S2551
Busybody Nora ...........................S0018 The Chalk Box Kid .......................S0988 Bunnicula ....................................S1065 Socks ..........................................S0100
Cam Jansen /Dinosaur Bones .....S0130 The Chocolate Touch ..................S0532 By the Great Horn Spoon ............S2550 Soup ...........................................S0406
Cam Jansen /Gold Coins .............S0462 Class Clown ................................S0919 Caleb’s Story ...............................S1761 Stone Fox ....................................S0569
Chang’s Paper Pony....................S2358 The Courage of Sarah Noble .......S0833 Charlie and the Strider .........................................S2453
Daniel’s Duck ..............................S1312 Donovan’s Word Jar ...................S3117 Chocolate Factory ...................S0132 Stuart Little .................................S2737
Dinosaurs Before Dark Ellen Tebbits ...............................S0146 Charlotte’s Web ..........................S0023 Superfudge .................................S0416
(Magic Tree House)..............S1754 Felita ...........................................S1062 Chocolate Fever ..........................S2337 The Tale of Despereaux ..............S3640
The Drinking Gourd ....................S1323 Front Porch Stories .....................S2548 The Cricket in Times Square .......S0229 Tales/Fourth-Grade Nothing ........S1067
Emma’s Magic Winter .................S0681 A Gift for Mama ..........................S0539 Dear Mr. Henshaw ......................S0141 There’s a Boy in the
Flat Stanley .................................S2733 Go Fish........................................S3306 Encyclopedia Brown: Girl’s Bathroom ......................S3614
Freckle Juice ...............................S0361 A Grain of Rice............................S2361 Boy Detective .......................S0449 The Tiger Rising..........................S3764
Henry and Mudge .......................S0408 Helen Keller .................................S0040 The Enormous Egg .....................S0147 Trouble River ..............................S0205
Hill of Fire ...................................S1324 Herbie Jones ...............................S2735 The Family Under the Bridge ......S1081 Trumpet of the Swan ..................S0755
Hour of the Olympics ..................S3348 How to Eat Fried Worms .............S0374 Fantastic Mr. Fox ........................S0033 The Velveteen Rabbit ..................S0288
In the Dinosaur’s Paw The Hundred Dresses .................S0991 Finding Buck McHenry ................S2642 The Witch of Fourth Street..........S0117
(Polk Street) ...........................S0256 The Hundred Penny Box .............S0760 The Friendship ............................S1613 Yang the Youngest/ Terrible Ear .S0242
The Jamie and Angus Stories .....S3794 The Indian School .......................S2932 Frindle .........................................S3119 A Year Down Yonder ..................S3615
The Josefina Story Quilt..............S1317 J.T. ..............................................S0052 Fudge-A-Mania............................S1477
Juan Bobo ...................................S2546 Jake Drake, Bully Buster .............S1139 The Gold Cadillac ........................S1672

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 NOVEL sTIES STUDY GUIDES
®

GRADE 5 The Pinballs ................................S0084 Maniac Magee .............................S1409 The Lottery Rose ........................S0066
Adam of the Road .......................S1248 Prairie Songs ..............................S0846 The Master Puppeteer .................S0175 Milkweed.....................................S3757
Al Capone Does My Shirts ..........S3762 Queenie Peavy ............................S1474 M.C. Higgins, the Great...............S0630 The Miracle Worker ....................S0891
Among the Hidden ......................S1127 Return of the Indian ....................S2204 The Midwife’s Apprentice............S2738 Monster ......................................S1617
Among the Imposters .................S3661 Seedfolks ....................................S3310 Mrs. Frisby and the My Brother Sam is Dead .............S0069
Amos Fortune, Free Man.............S2501 Shades of Gray ...........................S0339 Rats of NIMH ..........................S0071 No Promises in the Wind ............S0387
Babe the Gallant Pig....................S2206 Sign of the Beaver ......................S0125 Nothing But the Truth .................S0415 The Old Man and the Sea............S0076
The Bad Beginning ......................S3522 The Silver Coach .........................S1068 Number the Stars........................S1069 Our Town ....................................S0893
Baseball Fever .............................S0365 Sing Down the Moon ..................S0193 Old Yeller ....................................S0077 The Outsiders..............................S0080
Bloomability ................................S0979 Slake’s Limbo .............................S0098 One-Eyed Cat ..............................S1070 The Pearl .....................................S0081
The Borrowers ............................S0519 Summer of the Monkeys ............S1123 Out of the Dust ...........................S3124 The Pigman .................................S0083
Boy in the Striped Pajamas .........S3802 Summer of the Swans ................S0103 Park’s Quest................................S1071 The Red Pony .............................S0089
Bridge to Terabithia ....................S0017 Surviving the Applewhites ..........S3748 Parrot in the Oven .......................S3158 Redwall .......................................S2851
Bud, Not Buddy...........................S3309 The Talking Earth ........................S0626 The Planet of Jr. Brown ..............S1094 Rifles for Watie ...........................S0637
Burning Questions/Bingo Brown .S1406 The Thief Lord ............................S3645 The Pushcart War .......................S0086 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry .....S0124
The Cabin Faced West ................S0986 Three Cups of Tea .......................S3806 Rascal .........................................S0088 Romeo and Juliet ........................S0190
Caddie Woodlawn .......................S0019 Timothy of the Cay......................S2473 Red Scarf Girl .............................S3275 Rumble Fish ................................S0090
Call It Courage ..............................S18A Toliver’s Secret ...........................S0837 The River ....................................S2467 Scorpions....................................S1618
Castle in the Attic ........................S1249 Touching Spirit Bear .................... S3646 Sarah Bishop ..............................S0191 Shabanu ......................................S1280
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit .............S0020 True Confessions/Charlotte DoyleS0428 The Secret Garden ......................S0278 Sounder ......................................S0198
The Cay .......................................S0022 Tuck Everlasting..........................S0107 Shadow of a Bull .........................S0634 Stargirl ........................................S3602
Charley Skedaddle ......................S1159 The Twenty-one Balloons............S0573 A Single Shard ............................S1043 Streams to/River, River to//Sea ..S0675
Crash ..........................................S3001 The Upstairs Room .....................S2532 The Slave Dancer ........................S0631 Summer of My German Soldier ..S0102
Crispin: The Cross of Lead .........S3619 War Comes to Willy Freeman .....S1899 Small Steps .................................S3805 Tangerine ....................................S3311
Daniel’s Story..............................S2514 The War with Grandpa ................S0574 Snow Treasure ............................S1072 Tears of a Tiger ...........................S3766
Danny/Champion of the World....S0139 Weasel ........................................S0524 So Far From the Bamboo Grove .S0404 That Was Then, This is Now .......S0966
Daphne’s Book ............................S0962 Welcome Home, Jellybean ..........S0112 Soldier’s Heart ............................S1161 Treasure Island ...........................S0287
Dectectives in Togas ...................S1242 When Zachary Beaver Came The View from Saturday .............S2934 Watership Down .........................S0111
Dragonwings...............................S0234 to Town ...................................S2218 Waiting For the Rain ...................S0425 When the Legends Die ................S0209
Edgar Allan..................................S0031 The Whipping Boy ......................S0576 Walk Two Moons ........................S2553 Where the Lilies Bloom ...............S0995
Elijah of Buxton ...........................S3807 Who Really Killed Cock Robin? ..S0934 The Watsons Go to Birmingham .S2935 Where the Red Fern Grows .........S0114
Ella Enchanted ............................S3121 The Wish-Giver ...........................S0579 The Westing Game......................S0113 A Wrinkle in Time .......................S0119
Esperanza Rising ........................S3616 GRADE 6 When My Name Was Keoko .......S3796 The Yearling ................................S0120
Fast Sam, Cool Clyde, and Stuff .S1089 The White Mountains ..................S0210 Z for Zachariah............................S0582
Abel’s Island ...............................S2933 The Wind in the Willows .............S0291
Fever 1793 ..................................S3746 The Acorn People........................S0001 GRADES 9-12
The Fighting Ground ...................S0355 The Witch of Blackbird Pond ......S0116
Alan and Naomi ..........................S0520 Words By Heart ..........................S0963 1984............................................S0074
Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule ...S3492 Alice in Wonderland ...................S0218 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ..S0002
Freaky Friday ...............................S0034 Wringer .......................................S0762
Anne of Green Gables .................S0521 Year of Impossible Goodbyes .....S2170 All Quiet on the Western Front....S0006
Freedom Crossing .......................S1162 Artemis Fowl ...............................S3617 Angela’s Ashes............................S3312
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Zlata’s Diary ................................S0424
Belle Prater’s Boy........................S3122 The Astonishing Life of
Basil E.Frankweiler ................S0243 The Black Pearl ...........................S0013 GRADES 7-8 Octavian Nothing ...................S3804
A Gathering of Days ....................S0629 Blue Willow .................................S1499 Across Five Aprils .......................S0984 The Bean Trees ...........................S3270
George Washington’s Socks .......S3618 Brian’s Winter .............................S1411 Adventures of Tom Sawyer .........S0003 Beloved .......................................S3126
The Girl Who Owned a City .........S0036 The Bronze Bow ..........................S2339 Animal Farm................................S0007 Black Boy ....................................S0012
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! .....S3800 Catherine, Called Birdy ...............S2552 Anne Frank: Diary of a The Book Thief ............................S3798
The Great Gilly Hopkins ..............S0039 Chasing Redbird .........................S3123 Young Girl ...............................S0008 Catcher in the Rye ......................S0021
The Gypsy Game .........................S0860 Chasing Vermeer ........................S3750 April Morning ..............................S0009 The Crucible ................................S0894
Harriet the Spy ............................S0276 City of Ember ..............................S3759 Banner in the Sky........................S1460 Death of a Salesman ...................S0029
Harry Potter/Chamber of Secrets.S2696 The Crossing ..............................S1348 Bless the Beasts and Children ....S0014 Fahrenheit 451 ............................S0032
Harry Potter/Sorcerer’s Stone .....S0346 The Devil’s Arithmetic .................S1407 A Boat to Nowhere ......................S0015 Flowers for Algernon ..................S0151
The Higher Power of Lucky ........S3763 Dogsong .....................................S0923 The Call of the Wild ....................S0987 Great Expectations ......................S0295
Homeless Bird ............................S1013 The Door in the Wall ...................S0233 Cheaper By the Dozen .................S0024 The Great Gatsby ........................S0038
Ida Early Comes Over/Mountain .S1082 Down a Dark Hall ........................S0144 Children of the River ...................S1624 Hamlet ........................................S0929
In the Year of the Boar and The Egypt Game..........................S1399 Chinese Cinderella ......................S3756 I Know Why the
Jackie Robinson......................S0434 The Endless Steppe ....................S1271 The Chocolate War......................S0226 Caged Bird Sings ....................S3256
The Incredible Journey ...............S0048 A Family Apart ............................S0841 A Christmas Carol .......................S3125 The Joy Luck Club ......................S3127
Island of the Blue Dolphins .........S0050 Flush ...........................................S3797 Come Sing, Jimmy Jo.................S0343 Julius Caesar ..............................S0502
Jacob Two-Two/Hooded Fang ...S0752 Follow My Leader........................S0989 The Contender ............................S0510 The Lilies of the Field ..................S1073
A Jar of Dreams ..........................S1625 Freak the Mighty .........................S0419 Criss Cross .................................S3399 Lord of the Flies ..........................S0065
Jip:His Story ...............................S3156 Gathering Blue ............................S3749 The Dark is Rising ......................S0348 Macbeth ......................................S2682
Journey to America .....................S1103 Gentlehands ................................S0395 A Day No Pigs Would Die ...........S0230 A Midsummer Night’s Dream .....S2684
Julie ............................................S1513 The Graveyard Book....................S3803 Deathwatch .................................S0030 Murder on the Orient Express .....S0072
Julie of the Wolves .....................S0053 The Giver ....................................S0436 Dicey’s Song ...............................S0231 My Ántonia..................................S2554
The Land I Lost ...........................S0261 The Goats....................................S0562 El Bronx Remembered ................S2190 Night ...........................................S0073
Letters from Rifka .......................S2066 The Golden Goblet ......................S2148 Farewell to Manzanar ..................S0150 Of Mice and Men ........................S0075
Lily’s Crossing ............................S0508 Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! .....S3800 Forged BY Fire ............................S2868 One Flew Over/Cuckoo’s Nest .....S0183
Lizzie Bright/Buckminster Boy ....S3758 Hatchet........................................S0990 The Golden Compass ..................S3169 Ordinary People ..........................S0078
Luke Was There ..........................S0927 The High King .............................S0371 The Hobbit ..................................S0042 Picture of Dorian Gray ................S0082
The Maldonado Miracle .............S1350 Holes...........................................S0838 Homecoming ..............................S0668 Raisin in the Sun ........................S0087
Matilda ........................................S0375 Homer Price ................................S0692 Hoops .........................................S0372 The Red Badge of Courage .........S0996
Missing ‘Gator/Gumbo Limbo .....S2303 Homesick ....................................S0253 The House on Mango Street .......S2188 The Scarlet Letter........................S0093
Missing May ...............................S0327 Hoot ............................................S2365 I Am the Cheese..........................S0046 A Separate Peace ........................S0096
My Louisiana Sky........................S1007 The House of Dies Drear .............S1855 I Heard the Owl Call My Name ....S0047 Shane ..........................................S0097
My Side of the Mountain ............S0070 Interstellar Pig ............................S0545 Johnny Tremain ..........................S0051 Things Fall Apart .........................S0759
Olive’s Ocean ..............................S3556 Island on Bird Street ...................S2515 Killing Mr. Griffin ........................S0507 To Kill a Mockingbird ..................S0106
On My Honor ..............................S0997 Jacob Have I Loved ...................S0169 A Lantern in Her Hand ................S0055 Twelfth Night ..............................S2687
The Perilous Road ......................S1160 Journey Home ...........................S1626 Let the Circle Be Unbroken .........S1342 Up a Road Slowly .......................S0632
The Phantom Tollbooth ..............S0184 Kira, Kira .....................................S2712 The Light in the Forest ................S0058 The War Between the Classes .....S1074
Philip Hall likes me ....................S1408 Lyddie .........................................S0718 The Little Prince ..........................S0063 The Wave ....................................S0300
Pictures of Hollis Woods ............S3747
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