Paul Fleischman's Seedfolks is a quick book. There are only 87 pages, with a 13 page afterword. There are thirteen chapters, each with a different narrator. Normally, I like a book with multiple points of view (I'm seriously hooked on George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series).
But there wasn't enough here for me. I felt barely introduced to these characters. Fleischman says he didn't want to bore readers, and I understand that. I did enjoy getting to see what the garden meant to different characters, and I appreciate the vignette concept of only seeing the first year. But this felt like it was no more than an introduction; I felt left hanging.
Will I suggest it to the girls? Maybe, although some of the subject matter is a little adult: the pregnant teen who desperately wants to miscarry, for example. I think Lauren can wait a little while to be confronted with that particular concept.
Would I keep it for myself to read again? Also maybe, although there isn't a lot of meat here. There isn't even much in the way of a traditional conflict, despite the build up in "Sam," the sixth chapter, when he talks about people putting up fences and even barbed wire. How does that resolve? No, I think this one would go on the "sell back" shelf relatively quickly, although I did enjoy it well enough.
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