Seedfolks gives a good experience when read alone, and it could be yet more effective when read aloud by differing voices.

This device to which Fleischman entrusts the plot as well as the character development has brought the story some criticism.

Some critics have viewed its vignettes as too brief, superficial, and disjointed in action to have the coherence expected of a novel. Fleischman seems aware of such objections but undisturbed by them. He acknowledges being more interested in the puzzling out of the plot, the wording of the speech, and the sounds of the activity. He clearly values the multiple points of view that vignettes like those in Bull Run and Seedfolks give a story, and he clearly believes that children and young adult readers have different expectations than adult readers in these regards. "I really write," he says, "for the home theater.... You know...