Just as the lone individual can do much harm in society, Cotton Mather says, the lone individual can also do much good, and this theme subtly dominates Seedfolks.

Fleischman's message is gentle because the average participant in the gardening is drawn to it either by some strength or need in his or her own background and character or by some personal ambition that the American freedoms encourage. Only one character sees in the gardening a model for the world, and the soapbox that he makes is for an unnamed little girl to stand on while reading her winning essay on how to give the garden a convenient water supply. Kim plants her beans not to start any movement but to ease the loneliness that she feels as the only member of her family whom her 388 Seedfolks father never saw. She believes his spirit will...