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Seedfolks and Vermont
Reads
 Community and gardens were the
themes for Vermont Reads
2005, the Vermont Humanities Council's one-state, one-book community
reading program. The 2005 Vermont Reads pick was Seedfolks by Newbery-winner Paul
Fleischman.
Schools, libraries, and
community groups across Vermont organized reading groups and
garden projects inspired by Seedfolks,
a book of vignettes about a fictional
community
garden in Cleveland.
Author Paul Fleischman visited Vermont on September 20-21, 2005 to
inspire Vermonters to join together in building community and
literacy through gardening. The visit included several Burlington
schools and community gardens.
Related
Books,
Activities, and
Resources
Patchwork
is a
book of first person community garden stories set in Burlington Vermont
and inspired by Seedfolks. To order a copy of Patchwork,
please visit http://www.burlingtongardens.org/Patchwork.htm.
For
classroom activities and tips for using Seedfolks
in a school or community-based program, please
visit http://www.burlingtongardens.org/activityideas.htm.
To
hear or download Vermont Public
Radio's interview with Paul
Fleischman, please visit http://www.vpr.net/programs/vermont_reads2005.shtml.
25
copies of Seedfolks are available for lending out at the Fletcher
Free Library. Several local schools also have multiple copies of
Seedfolks received through grants from the Vermont Humanities Council.
Paul
Fleischman's visit to Burlington - September 21, 2005
  Paul
began his day at 9 a.m. with a visit to the Champlain
Community
Garden,
where he showed a group of Champlain Elementary School students a
spiral notebook with his hand written stories of the Seedfolks
characters.
 After
the garden tour, Champlain students in grades 3-5 gathered in
the
learning center to dialogue with Paul and ask questions about his
books. The students shared their art projects,
including the patchwork garden quilt (left), which was inspired by
reading
Seedfolks.
Paul talked with the students about what it was
like to grow up in a
family that loved to read. His father, Sid Fleischman, wrote many
children's books and helped to foster Paul's desire to become an
author. As a child in California, Paul enjoyed eating fruits and
vegetables picked fresh from his yard. When he wrote Seedfolks, he
used his imagination to create the vacant lot setting for the book.
  Paul's
next stop was the Edmunds Middle School
garden, which supplies the school with basil for
fresh pesto. Students
gathered in the school library for an engaging discussion with
Paul about Seedfolks and the process of writing a book. Paul
shared a news article about gardens in ancient Egypt, which helped give
him
the idea to write Seedfolks.
 After
lunch, Paul traveled to Burlington's New North End
for an asembly at Flynn Elementary School. Mary Dee's 5th grade class
served as hosts for the visit. The students provided a tour of the
school's sunflower patch and gave Paul a packet of freshly harvested
sunflower seeds to take back with him to California.
By mid
afternoon, the
sun was warm as we drove down the road to the Starr Farm Community
Garden. In the shade of the maple trees, a small group of students and
teachers from Vermont Adult Learning and Hunt Middle School enjoyed an
informal dialogue with Paul about how he developed the characters and
stories of Seedfolks.
Our day with
Paul
Fleischman ended with an evening program hosted by Burlington High
School and attended by 150 participants. Many thanks go to Paul, to the
Vermont Humanities Council, and to the steering committee members
listed below, for working together to make this memorable day a success.
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