Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman, is a short, yet powerful story about community. Narrated by diverse characters, each chapter serves as a piece of a grand puzzle, revealing the beauty and complexity of our humanity. When unlikely characters come together to morph a vacant lot of trash into a community garden, connection replaces loneliness and understanding trumps ignorance.

In these thoughtful essays, students were asked to choose one character that challenged their thinking or deepened their understanding of racism, prejudice and/or stereotypes. As expected, their analyses of these characters, allow us to reimagine a world where all are kind, compassionate and brave.

Take a look: