Seedfolks is the story of how a group of thirteen strangers come together to transform a rat-infested refuse dump into a garden.
Kim is of Vietnamese heritage, her father having been a farmer there.
Ana is originally from Romania, and she is initially suspicious that Kim is up to no good. She investigates and later becomes involved in the project when she realizes what Kim is up to.
Wendell, Ana's neighbor, goes to check on the garden, as requested by Ana, when Kim has not tended the garden in a while. He later helps Kim and then cultivates his own patch of ground in the lot. He is originally from Kentucky.
Gonzalo is a middle schooler from Guatemala. Together with his uncle, Tio Juan, who was a farmer back home, he also gets involved in the project.
Leona, an African American woman, gets involved after noticing the group at work one day. She chooses to plant a patch of goldenrod, which she believes is the secret to longevity.
It's not entirely clear where Sam is from, but he is an activist who decides that a garden is a worthwhile project. Being elderly and in no shape to take on digging himself, he hires a Puerto Rican teenager to do the job.
Virgil is from Haiti. He has just finished fifth grade, and he is instructed by his father to prepare a large area of soil to plant lettuces, which his father plans to sell to local restaurants.
Sae Young, from Korea, has been widowed, robbed, and beaten and has naturally become a recluse. The peaceful sight of the garden reignites her desire to be among people.
Curtis, from Cincinnati, is looking for a way to get back into the good books of Lateesha, the woman he is in love with. He therefore plants tomatoes beneath her third-story apartment.
Nora, a nurse taking care of an elderly stroke victim, is from Britain.
Maricela, a pregnant sixteen-year-old, is from Mexico and is introduced to the gardening project by Leona.
Amir is from India and is inspired by the garden's potential to bring people from different walks of life together.
Florence, who comes across the garden years later, is the grandchild of freed slaves from Louisiana.
Further Reading
All of the characters in Seedfolks are bound to each other, because they share a community garden in Ohio. They all live in the same physical zip code, yet many of them have roots from other parts of the world. Virgil is from Haiti, Ana's parents are Ukrainian, Kim is from Vietnam, Amir is Indian, and Maricela is Mexican. Nora is British, Sae Young is Korean, Leona is African American, and Gonzalo is from Guatemala. Wendel is from Kentucky, while Curtis is from Cincinnati. Florence is the grandchild of freed slaves from Louisiana, while Sam is Jewish. It's never mentioned where Sam is from.
The diversity in the community is a reflection of America's identity as a melting pot, as so many people from different cultures come...
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together to form a sense of community.
There are 13 main characters in Seedfolks who each have their own chapter. They appear in the book in the following order; Kim, Ana, Wendell, Gonzalo, Leona, Sam, Virgil, Sae Young, Curtis, Nora, Maricela, Amir, and Florence.
Each character represents an ethnic group. Kim's family moved to Cleveland from Vietnam. Ana moved to Cleveland from a Romanian village when she was only four years old. Wendell is a white American who grew up on a farm in Kentucky. Gonzalo moved with his family from Guatemala. Leona was brought up by her grandmother in Atlanta.
Sam doesn't say exactly where he originates from (though Sae Young does say he's American) but makes the point that he is a man of the world. He says he worked for 36 years to promote the idea of a world government.
Virgil is Haitian. Sae Young moved to Cleveland with her husband from Korea. Curtis is a young African-American man who has recently returned to Cleveland after spending some time in Cincinnati. Nora is a nurse from England. Maricela describes herself as a pregnant 16-year-old Mexican. Amir says he moved to Cleveland in 1980 from India. Florence opens her chapter by saying that her grandparents walked from Louisiana to Colorado in 1859 as recently freed slaves.
There are 13 character vignettes in Paul Fleischman's novel Seedfolks. All are members of a Cleveland, Ohio, neighborhood. All are connected by the development of a community garden in a vacant lot.
Kim, the character who starts the garden, is from Vietnam. Ana has lived in the U.S. since she was four years old. Her parents were from Groza, a village in the Ukraine. Wendel grew up on a farm in Kentucky. Gonzalo is from Guatemala.
There is no information given about where Leona and Sam are from. Leona is described as African-American, and there are hints that suggest Sam is Jewish.
Virgil's family is from Haiti. Sae Young moved with her husband from Korea. No place of origin is given for Curtis, although it is mentioned that he lived in Cincinnati for a time.
Nora is a British woman. Maricela is a Mexican teenager. Amir is from India. Florence's grandparents were freed slaves from Louisiana.
The importance of the backgrounds of all the characters is that there is a lot of diversity in this neighborhood. It is a microcosm of the United States of America, which has a rich tradition of immigration, and a darker tradition of slavery. The different ethnicities come together from different worldviews, backgrounds, and experiences to create something of common interest to them all. The garden connects them and creates a community, whereas they had been individuals who didn't interact with each other before the garden.
Who are all the characters in Seedfolks?
I'll give you a list of character names, but you'll need to read the book for a description of each one.
The story is set in the inner-city, where there is very little open ground. The first character we meet is Kim, a young Vietnamese girl who decides to start a garden in a vacant lot as a memorial to her father. Kim's neighbors include Ana, Wendell, Gonzalo, Leona, Sae Young, Curtis, Lateesha, Royce, Penny, Marciela, Sam, Amir, Florence, and Virgil. These neighbors first watch what Kim is doing, then question each other about what she might be growing, and some even get involved in the planting. Each one is personally touched and experiences some kind of change because of the garden.