Publishers Weekly
Fleischman's talent for writing stories from various points of view makes his works particularly appealing in audiobook form. Here, 13 different characters come alive via the distinct performances of a widely varied cast. When Kim, a young Vietnamese girl, plants some lima beans in a run-down vacant lot near her Cleveland, Ohio, apartment building, she has no idea that her actions will be a catalyst for reinvigorating the community. An elderly Romanian woman, a widower from Kentucky, an African-American boy and a Hispanic man are just a sampling of the other nearby residents who gradually emerge to follow Kim's unintentional lead and begin to help grow a new garden-and newly fulfilled lives-in the lot. Though not all the readings are of equal caliber (the portrayals of Ana and Wendell are particularly strong; a couple of the child performers lack polish), the range of voices and styles suggests a true community-certainly the author's intention. Ages 10-up. (Jan.)
School Library Journal
Gr 4 UpA vacant lot in Cleveland, OH, is transformed into a garden when residents of the community plant seeds to fulfill personal needs. From the Korean girl who plants lima beans in memory of the father she never knew, to the elderly Guatemalan uncle who can't speak English, to the Haitian cab driver who plants baby lettuce to sell to fancy restaurants, the 13 voices telling their stories are like a packet of variegated seeds that when sown produce a beautiful, multicolored harvest. The device is similar to that of Fleischman's Bull Run (HarperCollins, 1993); one character's words sum up the cumulative effect: "Gardening...has suspense, tragedy, startling developmentsa soap opera growing out of the ground." Indeed it does. The vacant lot could be in any city as the message of diversity, people, and sensibility is universal, and beautifully cultivated by an author who has a green thumb with words.Julie Cummins, New York Public Library
Kirkus Reviews
Using the multiple voices that made Bull Run (1995) so absorbing, Fleischman takes readers to a modern inner-city neighborhood and a different sort of battle, as bit by bit the handful of lima beans an immigrant child plants in an empty lot blossoms into a community garden, tended by a notably diverse group of local residents.
It's not an easy victory: Toughened by the experience of putting her children through public school, Leona spends several days relentlessly bulling her way into government offices to get the lot's trash hauled away; others address the lack of readily available water, as well as problems with vandals and midnight dumpers; and though decades of waging peace on a small scale have made Sam an expert diplomat, he's unable to prevent racial and ethnic borders from forming. Still, the garden becomes a place where wounds heal, friendships form, and seeds of change are sown. Readers won't gain any great appreciation for the art and science of gardening from this, but they may come away understanding that people can work side by side despite vastly different motives, attitudes, skills, and cultural backgrounds. It's a worthy idea, accompanied by Pedersen's chapter-heading black-and-white portraits, providing advance information about the participants' races and, here and there, ages.
From the Publisher
★ “A beautiful, multicolored harvest. The message of diversity, people, and sensibility is universal, and beautifully cultivated by an author who has a green thumb with words.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
★ “The story’s quiet beauty unfurls effortlessly and lingers after the final page has been turned.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Each voice sings with the rhythm of culture and personality.” — Children’s Book Review Magazine
★ “The characters’ vitality and the sharply delineated details of the neighborhood make this not merely an exercise in craftsmanship or morality but an engaging, entertaining novel as well.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)
“Innovative. Effective.” — Horn Book Magazine
Children’s Book Review Magazine
Each voice sings with the rhythm of culture and personality.
ALA Booklist (starred review)
★ “The characters’ vitality and the sharply delineated details of the neighborhood make this not merely an exercise in craftsmanship or morality but an engaging, entertaining novel as well.
Horn Book Magazine
Innovative. Effective.
Children's Book Review Magazine
“Each voice sings with the rhythm of culture and personality.”
APR/MAY 03 - AudioFile
Fleischman’s touching novel about an abandoned inner-city lot transformed into a community garden is composed of 13 interwoven stories. A Vietnamese immigrant schoolgirl describes how she sets out to grow lima beans in memory of her dead father. Barbara Rosenblat reads the narrative of an elderly Romanian woman who witnesses Kim planting the seeds and assumes a crime is being committed. One by one, strangers in the neighborhood overcome their prejudices and join in the gardening--the school custodian from Kentucky, the Guatemalan teenager taught by his uncle to plant vegetables from the old country, the muscle-bound African- American planting tomatoes to prove his love for his girlfriend, the British nurse helping her elderly patient find a new lease on life. Many of the performers are nonprofessionals, and don’t try to be otherwise. But the sincerity and integrity of this project bear this garden delicious fruit. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine