by Sandra Smith
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Part One: The Learning
Chapter 1: Escape Down An Alley
Chapter 2: A Visit From Grim
Chapter 3: Ana
Chapter 4: Lesson at St. Vincent's
Chapter 5: Dante Discovers Fruit
Chapter 6: Ana's Reflection
Chapter 7: "Good for Food"
Chapter 8: Buried Treasure
Chapter 9: Carrots Are Roots!
Chapter 10: A Grim History
Chapter 11: Tomatoes
Chapter 12: Preparation
Chapter 13: "It's Time"
Chapter 14: Change the Future
Chapter 15: Ana's Confession
Chapter 16: Ana Says Goodbye
Chapter 17: Lily's Declaration
Chapter 18: A Visit From Ana
Chapter 19: Summer Break
Chapter 20: An Empty Seat
Chapter 21: Broken Entry
Part Two: The Garden State
Chapter 22: Into the Night
Chapter 23: A Man Named Gruff
Chapter 24: Ana's Paper
Chapter 25: A Garden in the Sky
Chapter 26: Clare and Dante's Decision
Chapter 27: Preparing to Leave
Part Three: Journey to Eden
Chapter 28: "The Sun Will Not Harm You"
Chapter 29: An Answered Prayer
Chapter 30: Friends
Chapter 31: A Close Call
Chapter 32: Dante's Idea
Chapter 33: Derby Line
Chapter 34: The Apple Tree
Chapter 35: Summer Sunshine
Coming Next in the Seed Savers Series
Other Books in the Seed Savers Series
Note from the Author
Resources to Continue the Conversation
Acknowledgements
About the Author
What Readers Are Saying About Seed Savers: Treasure
“ . . . engagingly written to provoke thought among today’s youth, while providing a backdrop of a very entertaining literary experience. This book is ‘right on’ in presenting children with the wonders of agriculture and food production and how it should be a focus in understanding everyday living. Additionally, young readers can identify with the children in the story as they become empowered to effect change through what they have studied. There is much to like about this book, and I personally look forward to reading the next books of the series.”
—Carol Leffler, UF/IFAS Master Gardener
“Sandra Smith’s Seed Savers books are great reads for young people on many levels. The action is packed with secret acts of civil disobedience, escape from evil GRIM thugs and independent cross-country treks. Plus, teens will both recognize and learn about issues surrounding food sources. Seed Savers books have something for everyone: diverse characters, themes of empowerment, revolution, and even a little romance.”
—Joyce Yoder, former educator and administrator,
Salem-Keizer School District
“Here’s a great piece of ‘juvenile’ literature that doesn’t lose sight of one key fact: kids can think! Seed Savers stands tall as a great summer read, but I can easily imagine it as part of the curriculum for a Sunday school class, 4-H club, or any group that brings kids together to talk about things that matter. I wish this book would’ve been around when I was homeschooling—it would’ve been high on our reading list.”
—William Jolliff, Professor of English, George Fox University
“With our food in jeopardy from those who only see it as profit, Seed Savers takes the reader on a quest in the future to regain what we may lose in our lifetime—the right to grow our own food. Clare, Dante and Lily remind me of the precocious and activist-minded students I have taught. The fact that children are making a difference is all the more commendable . . . If you or your kids/students like fiction based on a possible future with kids as the heroes, this series is for you. Along the way, they will also learn a bit about gardening, the fragile security surrounding our food, and be entertained at the same time.”
—Sally White, former science and gardening teacher, Green Apple Award Winner, and Straub Environmental Learning Center All-Star Volunteer
“I read Seed Savers aloud to my Community Garden class of seventh and eighth graders. Both my students and I enjoyed the plot and identified with the characters. The themes of the story dovetailed with current event issues we were learning about, making the story very relevant!”
—Rachel Saltalmachia, middle school teacher
“I bought one copy for my sixth grade classroom this past year. First, the teachers passed it around, and when I finally got it back, the students started passing it around. There is nothing a teacher wants more than for students to recommend a book to his/her peers. Both my students and I enjoyed this book very much.”
—Rita Nelson, teacher/librarian
“It’s fast-moving and interesting, with a zippy and action-filled plot. There’s also a lot of good information presented in a clear and nonpreachy fashion. It’s a great way to open up discussions with your kids, and you’ll come away learning something, too.”
—Willamette Woman Magazine
“Seed Savers was really good . . . This was a good reading level for me. The story was involved and it read well. The plot was pretty unique. I like how the setting seemed to be somewhat in the future. I also liked reading about the types of food they have (like ‘Sweeties’). I recommend this book to kids 9+.”
—Erik Weibel, This Kid Reviews Books
“I haven’t been this in love with a young adult series since Harry Potter. I haven’t been this in love with an individual young adult book since Lois Lowry’s The Giver. Book one was 221 pages of exciting young adult goodness! I devoured it, and it was delicious. The title of the first book in the series, Treasure, is no misnomer. This book is truly a treasure. Author Sandra Smith has written the latest and greatest of young adult dystopian society novels. She has given us a solid middle grade tale featuring a new (and somewhat real) futuristic threat—illegal gardening. Educators everywhere should be aware of this rising star in children’s literature.”
—Andi Klemm, Anakalian Whims
“It is an excellent adventure shared by two siblings. I found them to be very endearing and courageous. I also liked the educational aspect . . . 4 stars!”
—Kathryn Svendsen, Shelf Full of Books
BOOK 1
SANDRA SMITH
SALEM, OREGON
Copyright © 2018 Sandra Smith
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Flying Books House
2514 Hazel Avenue Northeast
Salem, Oregon 97301
FlyingBooksHouse.com
SeedSaversSeries.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Titles of cookbooks used in the story are actual cookbooks. Bible quotations are New International Version.
ISBN 978-1-943345-05-2 paperback
ISBN 978-1-943345-06-9 ebook
ISBN 978-1-943345-07-6 hardcover
Book Design by Shannon Bodie, BookWise Design
Cover Art by Alan Baker
An earlier edition of this book was first published by Sandra L. Smith in 2012.
Publisher’s
Cataloging-In-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)
Names: Smith, Sandra (Sandra Louise), 1962-
Title: Seed savers. Book 1, Treasure / Sandra Smith.
Description: Salem, Oregon : Flying Books House, [2018] | Originally published: [Oregon] : Sandra Smith, 2012. | Includes bibliographical references and list of resources for further reading. | Interest age level: 009-012. | Summary: In 2077, blueberry is just a flavor, apples are found only in fairy tales, and all food comes from packages. One day 12-year-old Clare meets a woman who teaches her about seeds and real food. When authorities arrest Clare’s mother because she and her brother were growing a tomato plant, they flee to the “Garden State” in hopes of finding a place of food freedom.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781943345052 (paperback) | ISBN 9781943345076 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781943345069 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Seeds--Juvenile fiction. | Natural foods--Juvenile fiction. | Vegetable gardening--Juvenile fiction. | Future life--Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Seeds--Fiction. | Natural foods--Fiction. | Vegetable gardening--Fiction. | Future life--Fiction. | LCGFT: Dystopian fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.S6557 See 2018 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.S6557 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]--dc23
Printed in the United States of America
For all the people who plant seeds every spring.
God said,
“I give you every seed-bearing plant
on the face of the whole earth
and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food.”
GENESIS 1:29
PART ONE
THE LEARNING
1
ESCAPE DOWN AN ALLEY
Clare walked faster, clutching the tiny packet to her chest. The sound of the footsteps behind kept pace. She darted down an alley she knew well—turning right, then left, then right again. Standing still, her back against the wall, she listened. The footsteps had not followed her; she had lost them.
Twenty minutes later and safe in the apartment, she met with her co-conspirators: Dante, her seven-year-old brother, and Lily, her best friend.
“I have something to show you, but you have to promise not to tell.”
“We promise.”
Holding out her closed fist, she whispered, “What I have here will change the world.”
Dante’s eyes widened. “It’s so small.”
“It may be small now,” she told him, “but what I have in my hand will get bigger. It will grow and make more.”
“What is it?” Lily asked.
“Is it magic?” asked Dante.
She opened her hand. In it was a little brown envelope.
Clare tapped the packet lightly, the open end down. Two tiny specks, flat, and tear-shaped, fell into her other hand. They were not much bigger than the head of a pin.
“What is it?” Dante asked.
“Seeds.”
“What’s ‘seeds’?”
“Seeds make food.”
Dante’s eyes grew round and wide, as did Lily’s.
“Get out of here!” Lily cried. “You can’t make food. Everyone knows that food comes from Stores and from Delivery Trucks if you have government ration tickets—but people can’t make food.”
Dante laughed. “But wouldn’t it be great if people could make food?” he said, grinning widely. “Hey, Lily, it would be like making money. What if we could make as much money as we wanted?”
Lily started to laugh. “Yeah, I could make a million bucks and buy a truckload of Sweeties.”
“We wouldn’t even need money if we could make food,” Dante pointed out, doubling over with laughter.
BAM! Clare slammed her fist down on the table, leaving her thumb sticking up. The laughter stopped instantly. Lily and Dante immediately stacked their fists on top of Clare’s. The meeting had come back to order.
“People can make their own food,” Clare said. She picked up the white specks. “These are seeds,” she repeated. “They turn into food. These two seeds can make more food than you could eat in a whole day.”
Her brother and her friend stared disbelievingly at the specks—the seeds.
“How?” they asked.
“I’m not sure,” Clare admitted. “I don’t know yet. But I’ll learn; I’ll learn soon. In the meantime, we need to keep the seeds safe.”
Dante nodded his head slowly up and down.
“What do you mean?” Lily asked.
“Well,” Clare began, her voice lowering, “I don’t think regular people are supposed to have seeds. It might not even be legal.”
Dante and Lily gasped.
Clare held up her hands. “But even if it is illegal,” she said, talking faster now, “it’s a dumb law. It’s wrong! Everyone should have the right to produce their own food if it’s possible. Don’t you think so? I mean, why shouldn’t we?”
Lily started to say something, but stopped.
“What?” pressed Clare. “Don’t you think so?”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t get it. If Stores have all the food we need, and if poor people get ration cards for Delivery Trucks, why would anyone need or want to make their own food?”
Clare let out an exasperated sigh. “Lily, I’m still learning. But here’s what I know so far. Have you noticed how the people who live mostly on food from ration tickets are more unhealthy than other people?”
“Yeah, sort of. But they’re not starving like the ones on the Monitor. In fact, they’re kind of fat.”
“Exactly. And they often die younger than the people in the big houses and mansions.”
“Yeah. But that’s the way things are.”
“It’s the way things are because of food. The food from the Trucks is not the same as the food in Stores. And, Lily, the food from seeds is even better.”
2
A VISIT FROM GRIM
When Clare arrived home from school the next day, her mother was waiting for her at the door.
“Clare, you wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
Clare thought of the seeds safely hidden in her left shoe; she thought about the man who had followed her.
“What, Mama?”
“Some men from GRIM were here to see me today.”
“GRIM?”
“The Green Resource Investigation Machine,” she said, tossing a business card onto the kitchen table. “They asked if I had a twelve-year-old daughter. I told them I only had a seven-year-old son. Then they showed me a family photo of us together. Right away I looked like a liar. What’s going on, Clare?”
“What did you tell them, Mama?”
“What could I tell them? I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout no GRIM. But I didn’t like their looks or their attitude. That’s why I wasn’t cooperative. When they said I had a daughter named Clare who attended St. Vincent Private, and played volleyball for fun, and had a best friend named Lily, I said, ‘Why you guys askin’ me questions you already know the answers to?’”
Clare flinched.
“Don’t you worry, they didn’t hurt your mama. They just smiled real insincere like and said that I’d better pay closer attention to where my children are after school. I thanked them for their advice and showed them the door.”
Clare sat, silent.
“Well?” her mother asked.
“You really want to know?”
Her mom sighed deeply, that tired-out sigh Clare knew too well. The sigh of a woman who worked two jobs so her children didn’t have to eat the food from Trucks and to send them to private parochial school. She turned toward the window, her eyes focused far away.
“No,” she answered, almost imperceptibly.
Clare typed GRIM into the search engine.
The Green Resource Investigation Machine was formed thirty-five years ago in an effort to codify and streamline food production in the United States. At the time, most people bought food from larger and larger grocery stores, or “super-markets” as they were often called.
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Originally, food had been grown by individuals and eaten according to the season in which it ripened.
She was having a hard time understanding what she read. How did seasons relate to food? What did “ripen” mean? What did it mean to “grow” food? She continued to read.
Some people grew extra produce to sell and brought their excess “to market.” Hence, the later term, “supermarket.” The supermarkets gave way to what are currently called “Stores.”
The old way of growing, selling, and preserving food was inefficient and cumbersome. It required people to own land and learn all aspects of food production. It wasn’t economical, practical, or safe. With the scientific breakthroughs of the late twentieth century, researchers were able to genetically modify seeds, enabling plants to resist disease, insects, and weeds. Techniques were introduced making it possible to grow more food on less land, with less labor, for less cost. Large companies eventually won the right to patent seeds, which had previously been a part of the public domain. The “owners” of the seeds eventually became a part of government policy making.
One of GRIM’s main tasks today is to keep track of subversive elements who work against the government’s official food policy: anarchists, environmentalists, and seed savers.
Clare gasped. Seed savers. Is that what she was now? A seed saver? She had been warned. The old woman who entrusted her with the seeds told her she had to be brave.
She hadn’t really believed her. How could she? Who would believe something as tiny as those two seeds could be dangerous?
