Today, I'm happy to be part of the Seed Savers Blog Tour. It's a YA Series that sounds intriguing - a dystopian society where gardening is illegal as the government controls the food supply. Here's a bit about each book in the series. Plus, a short excerpt from the third book Heirloom.
Book 1 - Treasure:
In
a future where processed food is king and gardening is illegal, three
friends secretly study about seeds and growing food. Afraid of being
caught by GRIM, siblings Clare and Dante run away one night leaving
behind their friend Lily and mentor, Ana.
Book 2 - Lily:
After
Clare and Dante leave, Lily sets out to discover why. Along the way she
makes new friends and struggles inwardly when a family secret is
revealed. Lily must decide what to do and whom she can trust.
Book 3 - Heirloom
In
a futuristic U.S.A. where gardening is illegal, siblings Clare and
Dante have escaped to Canada and are living with a host family, enjoying
farm life and learning to grow their own food. Attending Garden
Guardian class, they meet other refugees and unearth the history of how
they lost their choices about food.
Their
friend Lily, who was left behind when they escaped, searches for a
father she grew up believing was dead, but whom she recently discovered
is alive. To succeed in her quest, Lily must elude GRIM, look for the
secret Seed Savers symbols, and find the friends who can help in the
search.
Excerpt from Chapter 29 of Heirloom (book 3)
Clare looked at her chair and then at the door. Jason was already outside. She knew she couldn’t wait for the next politics class. She wasn’t even sure if there would be another one, as now all inside lectures were dependent on the weather. And besides, Stan had acted as if everyone knew what happened in 2064. She left her chair for someone else to put away and rushed toward the door.
“Jason, wait up.” He didn’t hear her. She ran to catch up with his quick gait. “Jason!”
He turned. Clare thought how he looked older. His stern face caused her courage to briefly falter.
“Wait up. Where ya goin’?”
“Walking,” he said. “Thinking.”
“I don’t know,” Clare began, “what happened in 2064. I don’t know who James Gardener is.”
He shook his head slightly, made a little puff sound through his nostrils. “I swear, Clare, sometimes I don’t know what you’re doing here.”
She opened her mouth to respond.
“Look, I’m sorry. It’s just . . . this has been my whole life. My family has always been a part of Seed Savers. The Movement and the crackdown were stories I grew up on. I cannot wait to get back again—when the time is right. I lose my patience with people here who don’t have the urgency I feel.”
Clare felt a little guilty; her only sense of urgency was in learning to garden. She got the feeling Jason meant something more. He always seemed so—so restless. Discontented.
“So,” she said quietly, “will you please tell me about 2064?”
AUTHOR BIO
S. Smith grew up on a farm with a tremendously large garden. She maintains that if you can’t taste the soil on a carrot, it’s not fresh enough. Although she now lives with her husband and three cats in the city, she still manages to grow fruits and vegetables in their backyard garden.
A licensed ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, Ms. Smith has enjoyed teaching students from around the world.
Ms. Smith is a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and an OSU Master Gardener. She gardens and writes at her home in the beautiful and green Pacific Northwest.
Author Links:
