YA Series Unmasks Food Politics in Latest Fiction with Social Commentary

YA Series Unmasks Food Politics in Latest Fiction with Social Commentary

SALEM, Ore.: The final book in author Sandra Smith's Seed Savers series, Seed Savers-Unbroken, released earlier this week (Flying Books House), immerses readers in a future where the government dictates the nation's food supply. Seed Savers-Unbroken, the fifth and final book in the young adult series, asks readers to imagine a future where growing food is a crime and only the elite have access to real food.

Like other social issues fiction, Smith's series paints a possible future born from decisions made today. The Seed Savers series explores what could happen if intellectual property rights concerning patenting of seeds remain unchecked. The story also brings into question the inherent dangers of relying on large monoculture crops.

Smith notes that Unbroken, like previous books in the series, is not a bleak and hopeless dystopian. She frequently describes the Seed Savers books as "Little House on the Prairie meets Fahrenheit 451."

About the final book Smith said, "It took me a long time to figure out how to wrap this series up, tie together the multiple storylines, and hopefully have the Seed Savers come out on top. Even as I stalled in finishing the series, more and more of what I had written as fiction was becoming reality."

Smith is a former middle school teacher, a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association, an OSU Master Gardener graduate, and a seed saver with her local seed/food bank. She grew up on a small family farm and still grows and saves many of the vegetables and fruits her family will eat for the year.

Seed Savers-Unbroken, ISBN 9781943345144, Flying Books House, released June 26, 2019, and is available in print and digitally.