Seedfolks is a cultural melting pot of characters, ethics, and religious beliefs. The customs and individual experiences presented vary widely in each chapter—it's almost like you begin again each time, except that there is one thread holding each storyline together. The thing about having so many individual plot threads to hold onto and characters to dig into is that this is both a bit of a challenge and a heck of an opportunity for you and your students.

On the one hand, there's a lot to make sense of in this book. Depending on your students' experiences, many of the characters may come from places and cultures that simply don't speak to the kids in your class. This can be a real barrier to your students connecting with the book—it may be hard for them to relate to any particular person they're reading about—but hopefully our activity on the different cultures can help you push through this. On the up side, this is a chance to really bring multiculturalism into your classroom.