Grace Lee Boggs Gardens of hope

Songju Ma Daemicke

Book - 2025

"When Grace Lee Boggs was eight years old, her teacher gave her a copy of The Secret Garden. As a Chinese American, Grace had experienced prejudice, and she wanted to grow a garden of her own that would help people heal from injustice. Grace dedicated her life to fighting for civil, environmental, labor, and women's rights. In 1992, she and her husband founded Detroit Summer, a multicultural and intergenerational youth program that inspired kids to become leaders in their community. Together with these "solutionaries," Grace finally created the garden she dreamed about, one that continues to inspire people to make the world a better place for everyone"--

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A stimulating overview of the Chinese American social and civil rights activist's long career and achievements. Daemicke links a teacher's childhood gift ofThe Secret Garden to the community gardens that Grace Lee Boggs (1915-2015) later planted in empty lots around Detroit with the aid of young volunteers. The author characterizes her subject as "a gardener not only of plants but also of minds." Lin echoes that theme in emblematic tableaux that follow Boggs through early troubles finding work "because she was Chinese" and leadership of the Workers Party to grassroots initiatives like the "Detroit Summer" program. She had such close associations with Malcolm X and the Black Power Movement that her FBI file wrongly dubbed her "Afro-Chinese." She spent decades involved in both local and larger causes and makes a final appearance here speaking to a diverse circle of youthful "solutionaries" (as she called them) about "art, the earth, and change, challenging them to turn ideas into action." Daemicke brings home the reality that the struggle for civil rights, particularly for Asian Americans, has been long and tragic with a quick closing reference to Vincent Chin, victim of a hate crime in 1982. The narrative ends with hopes of making the world a "healthier, kinder, and more just place for everyone." An inspiring tale of a life dedicated to making better people in a better world. (author's note, timeline)(Picture-book biography. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.