A Handful of Seeds

by Monica Hughes, Luis Garay (Illustrator)

One sad day, Grandmother died. "You cannot stay here," said the man who owned the land. "I have a family ready to move in." Young Concepcion has no choice but to move to the barrio of the nearby city. There she meets children who, in order to survive, must steal the good they eat. But Concepcion has a plan. With back-breaking work she plants a garden amid the rubble, using her grandmother's legacy: a handful of chili, corn and bean seeds. But her garden is destroyed.
Will she have the strength to begin again?
Monica Hughes' powerful story is complemented perfectly by the paintings of Luis Garay, a young Nicaraguan artist. Published in collaboration with UNICEF Canada, A Handful of Seeds offers a message of hope on behalf of the thirty million children worldwide who live on the streets of their cities.

Genres: Picture Books, Food

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Monica Hughes was a very popular writer for young people, and has won numerous prizes. Her books have been published in the United States, Poland, Spain, Japan, France, Scandinavia, England, and Germany. She has twice received the Canada Council Prize for Children's Literature, and was runner-up for the Guardian Award.

She is the author of Keeper of the Isis Light, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, which also received a Certificate of Honor from the International Board on Books for Young People; Hunter in the Dark, also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; and Sandwriter, among many other titles.

Reviews

[Emelda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This kid's book introduces a lot of issues (poverty, police brutality, gardening, etc.) subtlety and you can talk about them in depth more as your child grows. A young girl and her grandmother are sharecroppers and when the grandmother dies, the granddaughter runs away to the city and joins a gang of abandoned children in a tent city. She convinces them to grow a garden so they don't have to steal food but the cops come, trample the garden and beat the children. In the end, the children end up re-building the garden and making peace with the rival gang of neglected children. It's a sweet story.

[Pluma Literaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un puñado de semillas de Mónica Hughes, me ha tocado alma, por la realidad que aborda sin ningún dramatismo al describir momentos muy duros que día a día pasan los niños que habitan las calles en las ciudades, pero también es una voz de aliento al reflejar que entre más oscuro este el cielo es porque pronto va a amanecer.

Concepción, la protagonista, es una niña que vive en el campo, con su abuela un día la vida la pone en una situación apremiante y debe partir sola a la ciudad, dejando todo lo que tiene gran valor atrás. Parte de su terruño con la única posesión de un puñado de semillas, sin un lugar donde vivir, emprende una aventura que la lleva a conocer a unos niños que enfrentan la misma situación que ella, solo que estos para sobrevivir delinquen. La niña se hace amiga de ellos y logra influir positivamente en sus vidas al punto que juntos logran aprender que unas cuantas semillas no solo significa un plato de comida para calmar el hambre, sino que puede ser la oportunidad para mejorar sus vidas.

En estas páginas con imágenes coloridas donde se recrea el desamparo, encuentro más que las difíciles condiciones que sobrellevan unos niños, miro que se promueven valores como: la amistad, la tolerancia, la solidaridad, el diálogo, la cooperación y la honradez.

El mensaje es de esperanza y solidaridad, porque nos permite volver nuestros ojos al origen, a la madre tierra, al campo, los sembrados que simbolizan la esperanza, las semillas que al germinar no solo nos brindan alimento, sino también vida, nos ayuda a crecer por dentro con una gran conciencia.

[Laura Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

De los mejores libros que pude haberme encontrado en mi infancia.

[Nahuatl P Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustó mucho, habla de realidades difíciles pero lo hace muy bien.

[Sam Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a LOT. It doesn't explain the things it shouldn't (e.g., why her parents aren't around, words like "sharecropping" and "homeless"), and it makes her situation come alive instead of seeming like a lesson.

The illustrations have a style that I have come to associate with Mexican and Central American childrens books, and that makes sense for this book, but I just didn't connect to them.

In retrospect, given how much I want this as part of my library, I am changing my rating.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a bit of shocked look on my face after this book. It teeters back and forth in being child-friendly and not. I really don't think I should read about a little girl who ends up living by a dump where her friends steal and at one point are beaten by the police. The pictures also teetered back and forth to being nice and funky. I was a little surprised to see one boy in one picture look like one of my nephew's though! Also, not quite the "chili" I was looking for.

[Nojood Alsudairi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a stong well to plant vegetables in the city.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

read it in spanish.