The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland

Illustrated by Tatsuro Kiuchi. 32 p., Harcourt/Voyager, 1993.

A Vietnamese girl tells how her grandmother collected a lotus seed to remember the emperor's courage when he lost his throne. The grandmother marries, and her husband goes off to war. She keeps the seed, with her through many situations that require courage of her: from her husband's departure, bombings, flight to the United States in a boat, and the adjustment and hard work she faces in the new land. Eventually, the narrator's brother, curious, steals and plants the seed. Their grandmother is distraught at the loss of the seed - but it eventually grows and blooms, "the flower of life and hope." It produces new seeds, some of which the grandmother gives to her grandchildren, saving one to remember the emperor's courage. The narrator plans to plant her seed someday, and to give the seeds to the children she will have. This story shows children a way to make life-sustaining meaning in spite of devastation.

Ages: 5-8
Cultural Context: Asian American