Search Results for: blog seedfolks paul fleischman

Whirligig – Paul Fleishman

“Whiligig” is a very thought-provoking young adult novel. Bruce Bishop is sixteen and determined to play everything right in his new private school. He concentrates on wearing the right clothes, knowing what to say to the right people, and always being “cool.” Coolness is very important to him, and as the new guy, he’s got to play it for all it’s worth. One night a friend invites him to tag along to a party, but forgets to tell him that there’s a theme – everyone is supposed to wear either all black or all white, so they can play a … Continue reading →

Seedfolks – Paul Fleischman

“Seedfolks” is a short novella, coming in at only sixty-nine pages. Amazing how just sixty-nine pages can pack such a punch. Each chapter is told through the eyes of a different person who lives near or along the edges of an old vacant lot, where garbage is piled high and vagrants come to spend the night. A run-down piece of ground in a run-down neighborhood, it becomes the site of a minor miracle. We begin with Kim, a young Vietnamese girl who came to America not long ago. Her father died some years ago, and it’s the anniversary of his … Continue reading →

Sixteen in No Time – BJ Rowley

Celinda and her friend Mandy are looking forward to the junior prom. Celinda has been asked to go by Travis Foxx, the hottest guy in school, and Mandy has her eye on a guy of her own. The dance is just a week away and they’re full of high hopes. . . but there’s a problem. They each have rules in their homes that they can’t date until they’re sixteen, and the prom comes right before their birthdays. Consequently, their parents say they can’t go. Heartbroken, Celinda decides there has to be a way to get around her parents. She … Continue reading →

Number the Stars – Lois Lowry

I’ve read quite a number of books about the Holocaust, but it wasn’t until reading “Number the Stars” that I read about it from the Danish perspective. It was fascinating. Annemarie Johansen lives in Denmark with her family and has a best friend named Ellen Rosen, who is a Jew. As the political tensions in Denmark increase, Annemarie and her family take in Ellen for a while, until her parents can get her to safety – Jews are disappearing all over Denmark. Annemarie’s mother takes her and Ellen on a trip to visit their uncle, a fisherman in the north … Continue reading →

Leepike Ridge – N.D. Wilson

“Leepike Ridge” is a young adult adventure novel about an eleven-year-old boy named Thomas Hammond. His father passed away a couple of years previously and he lives with his mother in a house that is chained to the top of a mountain so it won’t slide off. They love their rural house but the appliance deliverymen don’t care for it – power surges are frequent and every time they have one, their refrigerator goes out. Sure enough, the deliverymen have to lug a new fridge up that mountain with regularity. They aren’t amused. Thomas is also not amused that Jeffrey, … Continue reading →

Sorrow That the Eye Can’t See

Have you ever been waiting in line and had someone cut in? Have you asked someone a question, only to get your head bitten off? Have you been driving down the road and had a fellow motorist make a slightly less than friendly gesture at you? Did a door get slammed in your house today? How did this make you feel? Did you want to retaliate, or did you shrug it off? The hymn “Lord, I Would Follow Thee” contains these lines: Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly? In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that … Continue reading →

Whale Song – Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Young adult novel “Whale Song” by acclaimed Canadian author Cheryl Kaye Tardif is the story of Sarah, a young girl who is leaving her Wyoming farm and moving with her family to Vancouver Island. Her father is a scientist who will be studying the killer whales that live in the oceans near the island, and he has found his family a wonderful home to stay in for the next few years while he carries out his studies. Sarah isn’t sure about being away from Wyoming for so long – all her friends are there, and she doesn’t like the idea … Continue reading →

Hope Was Here – Joan Bauer

I really enjoyed “Hope Was Here” by Joan Bauer, the story of a teenage girl who doesn’t know where she belongs, until she finds a place that’s better than anything she could have imagined. She was born prematurely and underweight. Her mother, a flighty, irresponsible woman barely older than a girl herself, took off and left her at the hospital, after sticking her with the impossible name of Tulip. Hope’s aunt Addie took her in, raised her, allowed her to change her name, and gave her a backbone of security. With just one flaw – they’ve had to move frequently. … Continue reading →

When the Road Ends – Jean Thesman

In “When the Road Ends” by Jean Thesman, Mary Jack is a twelve-year-old who has spent her entire life in the foster care system. Passed around from home to home, she’s never had any constancy in her life until now, having been placed with Father Matt and his wife. Father Matt is a well-meaning man of the cloth – his heart’s in the right place, but he doesn’t often have the courage to follow through. His wife is an unkind, unfeeling woman who complains endlessly about all she has to endure, and Mark Jack finds herself taking up a lot … Continue reading →

A Sudden Silence – Eve Bunting

Jesse, a college student home for the summer and his sixteen-year-old brother Bry went to a wild party. They got a ride there with a friend, but there was enough alcohol at the party that soon their friend was incapacitated and they decided they’d be safer walking home. It wasn’t that far, after all. It was pitch black dark at 11:30 at night, and suddenly Jesse noticed headlights up behind them, pointing right at them. He yelled at Bry to jump, and then he himself jumped off the shoulder of the road onto the property that stretched alongside. Bry never … Continue reading →