SEEDFOLKS

HarperTrophy, New York, 2004, revised ed.  ISBN 0-06-447207-8 / 978-0-06-447207-4.  MMPB, 102 pages.  Unread copy; light edge and cover wear, small chip at spine head.  ‘A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden.  Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care.  Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds.  Suddenly, the soil holds promise:  To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha’s heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil’s dad, who sees a fortune to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Maricela, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead.  Thirteen very different voices – old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful – tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.’ (from rear wrap)