Becoming a Seedfolk

In life, there are always difficult situations that come about outside of one’s control.  Whether it’s poverty, racism or dealing with death, people have a choice to either face them or run away from them.  This is exactly what happens to the characters in Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman.  In this book, many characters begin a community garden in their tough neighborhood.  The author wrote Seedfolks with many perspectives to show how different people can overcome social issues like dealing with death by changing and taking action.

One of the characters who deals with death is Kim.  As her family marks the ninth anniversary of her father’s death with candles, incense and offerings, she finds herself staring at a picture of the man she never knew.  She was born eight months after his death, and according to her family’s Vietnamese culture, honoring her father’s death is still a yearly event.  This year though, Kim does something new.  She went to a vacant lot and planted lima beans and thinks “he would see me….He would see my patience and my hard work.  I would show him that I could raise plants, as he had.  I would show him that I was his daughter” (p. 4).  In doing this, Kim deals with her fathers death by taking action.  She plants beans in hopes to gain his spirit’s attention.  

Another character who has lost loved ones is Wendel.  This old, school janitor lost his son in a street fight and his wife in a car crash.  As a result, he can’t bear to hear his phone ring, wondering who else might have died.  When watering Kim’s beans in the garden, he figures out that he can’t change his life.  He thinks, “Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth.  Can’t make the world loving and kind...But a patch of ground in this trashy lot--I can change that.  Better to put my time into that than moaning about the other all day” (p.15).  It is because of the garden that he realizes that instead of wasting his time on the past, he should think about the future.

Finally, Paul Fleischman introduces the reader to Sae Young, a Korean woman, who lost her husband.  After her husband died of a heart attack at 37, she was alone.  And when an intruder came into her dry cleaning shop, no one was there to defend her.  These experiences made her so fearful, she didn’t want to see anyone anymore.  Then she saw the garden, and she decides to change.  She thinks, “I want to be with people again.  Next day I go back and dig small garden.  Nobody talk to me that day.  But just be near people, nice people, feel good, like next to fire in winter.”  (p. 47).  By stepping into the garden and taking her own space, she overcomes her fear to join a new community.  This action helps her deal with her husband’s death.
To sum up, through his characters, Paul Fleischman emphasizes how important it is to take action when confronting a social issue.  It’s important because if we don’t, our lives may just not be as great.  So let’s become seedfolks ourselves by taking root and pushing ourselves to grow beyond the social issues that may define us.


Image from:  www.npr.org

Max the Mighty

Everyone knows that there are moments in life that stand out.  They matter to us because we learn things about ourselves, about others, and about life in general.  Some of the moments can be good while others can be devastating.  Whatever the case, they are the turning points of our lives and they make us who we are.  In Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick, Maxwell Kane experiences a number of turning points that cause him to change and grow.

In this book, Max, an overgrown 8th grader with learning difficulties, just wants to live a normal life.  The problem is his mom was murdered, his dad, Killer Kane, is in prison, and he spends his days in the “Down Under,” his grandparents’ dark and dreary basement.  There’s no way anyone wants to be his friend.  That is until Freak, a handicapped genius, moves back into town.  Soon after, the two misfits form an unbreakable bond as they venture out on quests that change their lives forever.

Along the way, there are significant turning points for Max.  The most important one is when he stands up to his father.  In this scene, Loretta Lee, a lady from the New Testaments, is trying to untie Max and set him free when Killer Kane returns.  When he starts to strangle Loretta, Max says,  “I saw you kill her! I saw you kill Mom! I never forgot, not ever!  I know you did it! I know!“ (p.106).  This is significant because it’s the first time Max is self-confident enough to stand up to the biggest bully in his life, his own father.

As a result of this turning point, Max changes for the better.  He takes control of the situation by being confident and speaking up.  In that way, Max serves as a mentor for all of us.  We need to stand up for what we believe in even when it seems impossible. So the next time you are faced with a difficult turning point in your life, remember Max’s newfound self-confidence and confront it head on.

Defining Strengths

Let’s face it. In life, we all face challenges at some point or another.  Whether it’s not fitting in, lacking self-esteem or even losing a loved one, life can throw us a curveball.  This is exactly what Maxwell Kane is facing in Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick.  Lucky for him, he learns not to let his challenges define who he is.

In this book, Max, a large, lonely middle school boy, struggles to fit in at school and at home.  One day, Kevin Dillon, an extremely intelligent and handicapped boy known as “Freak,” moves in next door, and they develop a most unique friendship.  Together they complete quests and roam the halls at school as “Freak the Mighty.”  Unfortunately, Max still faces other obstacles like the town’s bullies, his criminal father, and Freak’s own health.

One of the important lessons that Max learns from Freak is to let his strengths define who he is, not his challenges.  You see, Freak suffers from Morquio Syndrome, a rare birth defect where the insides of a body grow faster than the outside.  As a result, Freak cannot walk properly. Instead of letting this determine who he is, he still is an active, vociferous, and bright kid. One night when Freak and Max were watching fireworks, Max recalls, “when the fire blossoms are flashing blue, he goes, ‘Good old strontium nitrate!’ And I’m thinking whoa! Is there anything this dude doesn’t know?” (p.33) It’s clear that he lets his intelligence shine through in everything he does.

Very often authors use objects in stories to represent ideas. In this story, Philbrick uses Freak’s dictionary to symbolize his intelligence.  Freak is mad about words.  He loves them so much, he makes a dictionary of his favorite words.  It’s no surprise that for Christmas he wraps it up and gives it to Max.  In doing so, he shows Max that it’s important to be proud of his strengths.  Max takes that lesson to heart as by the end of the book he becomes the sensitive and caring kid he was all along. 

Simply put, Freak teaches Max to define who he is in terms of his strengths instead of his challenges. He is a much stronger person as a result.  So the next time you face a challenge in life, be like Max.  After all, by relying on our strengths, we’ll be able to overcome any challenge no matter what.