Picture Books: The Lotus Seed

Title: The Lotus Seed
Author: Sherry Garland
Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company
Genre: Fiction
Number of Pages: 32
Discovery of Book: Suggestion by Professor
Reading Level: Lexile 880L
Awards: Booklist, Booklist starred, Horn Book, Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, Teacher Librarian

Summary: The Lotus Seed is a touching story about a woman who saw the last emperor of Vietnam cry as he lost his throne. To remember him, the young lady removed some lotus seeds from nearby. She carried these lotus seeds with her as further internal turmoil occurred in Vietnam. Eventually she fled to the United States, still clinging on to her lotus seeds. One day her grandson stole the lotus seeds and planted them, not remembering where he had placed them in the soil. The woman cried endlessly until one day the lotus seeds blossomed, bringing her a sense of joy and remembrance of her home country, Vietnam.

Personal Connection: Reading The Lotus Seed made me immediately think about my grandmother's wooden shoe that she had been given by her mother long ago. My grandma's mom came from Germany around the time of the rise of Hitler. When she left her country, she brought along a wooden shoe that she had owned since she was a little girl to help remember where she had grown up. Over time, my great-grandmother passed the shoe along to my grandmother, her first child, telling her the story of her journey to a new world. My grandmother still houses the shoe, waiting to pass it along to her children one day.

The wooden shoe story connected to The Lotus Seed because in each, a story of struggle and rebirth was told. My great-grandmother left a country where the government was becoming overpowering and war was on the lips of everyone. She made it to America, starting a new and brilliant life. In The Lotus Seed, the main character was able to do the same, escape a warring country and start anew, but always being able to keep Vietnam in her heart.

Classroom Usage:

The book The Lotus Seed is at a Kindergarten to Third Grade reading level. Do to this fact, students at the Middle School Level would be able to easily read this independently. Even struggling readers could decode and comprehend this story with the assistance of a teacher.

In the classroom, The Lotus Seed would be an excellent way to begin the students study of Vietnam. The teacher may want to initiate discussion by asking the students if there is anything that they would take with them if they were forced to leave America. If any students in the classroom were ELL or had moved from a different country, or even state, the teacher should ask them to share their experiences about moving. This story could lead the students into writing an expressive essay about which item they would choose to take with them if they were ever forced to flee the country. Eventually, the discussion could move towards talking about the Vietnam War, touching upon the idea of internal struggle of a country, while linking the United States to the military action that occurred. Eventually, through further research, the students could question if the Vietnam war could be considered a holocaust.