Sadiq and the Community Garden by Christos Skaltsas

Author:Christos Skaltsas [Nuurali, Siman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: books about Black kids; books about immigrants; chapter books for 1st grade; chapter books for 2nd grade; chapter books for 3rd grade; newcomers; Somalia; Somali-American; own voices; #ownvoices
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2021-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

Two weeks later, everyone gathered at the lot. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. Ms. Battersby was wearing her gardening hat.

Sadiq, Zaza, Manny, Zayyan, and Spencer were there with their parents. A couple of other students had also come with their parents.

Sadiq couldn’t wait to get started. He was excited to see that so many volunteers had shown up!

“Okay, everyone, gather around,” said Baba. “I want you all to be careful. There could be old nails and broken glass around. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Do you all have safety gloves?” asked Hooyo.

“Yes!” the group cheered loudly.

Then Hooyo and Baba explained the plan and gave the group instructions. They would pick up all the trash on the lot, being very careful with sharp things. Next, they would rake to pull up the weeds and prepare the soil for planting. Finally, they would mark out evenly sized plots for every family that wanted one.

Soon everyone got to work cleaning up the lot.

“We can stack the bricks in the corner,” said Baba, pointing. “Carry just two at a time Sadiq. I don’t want you to drop them on your foot.”

“Okay, Baba,” said Sadiq.

Sadiq knew he was strong enough to carry more. He had had a spinach mango smoothie for breakfast! But he followed Baba’s instructions.

“Should I pull these?” Spencer asked his dad, pointing at some fuzzy green plants. “I can’t tell if they’re weeds or not.”

“Yes, those are weeds,” his dad replied. “They’re easy to pull. You can put them in this yard waste bag.”

Ms. Battersby and Hooyo measured out each plot. They made sure to leave room for people to walk between the plots.

Manny’s dad put little sticks at the corner of each plot. Then he connected them with strings to make squares.

“Now we’re ready to plant the seeds and water them!” Baba said.

The kids and their families got to work, and soon all the seeds were in the ground. They had planted beans, squash, sweet potatoes, lettuce, and lots more!

“I think that’s all the seeds my hooyo brought,” said Sadiq, looking around.

“What about all the extra plots?” asked Manny.

“Yeah, what should we do with them?” asked Zayyan.

Sadiq thought for a moment. “You know what’s missing from our community garden? The community! Let’s invite more people!” he said. “I think some of our neighbors would like to garden.”

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