Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

Seedfolks follows the perspectives of various people within a community. It starts of with little Kim trying to get her seeds to grow in a vacant lot right outside her apartment building. With each new perspective we see this little garden grow and how it brings together a small and diverse community. We see hate turn to love and to respect. Instead of phrases like "that Chinese woman" turns into "the school teacher." It's little things like this that make this short story so magical.

Character observations: Gonzalo: "The older you are, the younger you get when you move to the United States."

Wendell: "There's plenty about my life I can't change...But a patch of ground in this trashy lot--I can change that. Can change it big."

Nora: "Yet we were all subject to the same weather and pests, the same neighborhood, and the same parental emotions toward our plants...We, like our seeds, were no planted in the garden."

Amir: "The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they're known to be friends."

Each character has these little quotes and observations as they each partake in some way of the community garden. It's full of life's rich lessons and one I will continue to read to my child.