Athena and The Dandelions

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Athena and the Dandelions

By Leeann Zouras
2017
Leeann Zouras has written for Highlights. In this short story, a girl and her family collect dandelions for a
Greek dinner. As you read, take notes about how Athena feels about the dandelions.
[1] Have you ever eaten a dandelion?
Me neither.
Have you ever blown dandelion seeds to make a

wish?
Me, too.
[5] “Time to go, Athena,” Mama said from the curb.

She held open the car door.
I toed the sidewalk and swung my book. She

knew I didn’t eat dandelions. Why did I have to "“The best food in the world.” " by Holly Hatam is used with
pick them with my family every spring? permission.
“Baba and Yia-yia are waiting,” she said.
My father and grandmother smiled from the front seats of the car.
I turned and waved to Brigid, the girl who’d moved in across the street.
[10] She stood and watched. I was glad she didn’t ask where we were going.
We rode into the country, not too far from our house just outside Chicago. I set down my book and
tilted my face to the warm breeze. I told the wind, “I hope we’re not there yet.”
I had never seen anyone in the field with us, but I always worried that someone would notice us picking
dandelions. People in America yanked dandelions from their lawns. No one wanted them. What would
the new neighbors think if they found out our family ate weeds?
We drove west until the houses stopped. Then we stopped.
I wished Baba would turn the car around so we could go home.
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[15] I wished Mama wasn’t rummaging around the trunk for plastic grocery bags.
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I wished Yia-yia didn’t pull out the supplies she kept in her purse.
“Ela exo, Athena,” Yia-yia said in Greek. “O helios thelee na se thee.” She was saying, “Come out. The sun
wants to see you.”
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I slunk from the car.
We walked through a vast field. Hundreds of spunky yellow flowers decorated the soft earth.
[20] I looked for a place to hide.
3
“What’s the matter with you, Athena?” Yia-yia asked, bending over to shear a dandelion from the
ground. She shoved it into a grocery bag and went on to the next victim, eyeing me all the while.
“Nothing,” I said. “But why do we eat dandelions? No one else does.”
“The best food in the world,” Baba answered, shaking a handful of greens.
It seemed to take hours to fill the bags.
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[25] I longed to run through the dappled field. I wanted to twirl. I looked around. Only dandelions watched
me.
I did a cartwheel. Legs straight, toes pointed. I landed smiling at the sky and shin-high in the yellow
flowers.
“Athena!” Yia-yia said. “Ta horta!”
That meant not to trample the leaves. I sat down and burrowed into my book.
By the time we were ready to leave, we had enough dandelions to boil, oil, and douse with lemon for
an entire Greek army. Wild greens, or horta, as we called them, were always on the menu. Chicken and
horta. Lamb and horta. Red snapper and horta. Sometimes just horta for Baba.
[30] On the way home, Mama and Yia-yia talked about hosting a dinner party for the new neighbors, who
5
wanted to try ethnic food.
“What about spaghetti and meatballs?” I asked.
“That’s Italian,” Yia-yia said. “We’re Greek.”
“Fried rice?” I teased.
1. Rummage (verb): to search carelessly through a mass

2. Slink (verb): to move quietly because you don’t want to be seen
3. to cut off something
4. marked with spots or rounded patches
5. Ethnic (adjective): relating to large groups of people who have the same customs, religion, or origins
2
“Chinese,” she said.
[35] The night of the party, Brigid from across the street arrived with her parents.
Mama set the table with her gold-stamped glasses. She served octopus with onions, grilled sardines,
peppers stuffed with lamb and rice, and horta.
Our guests ate everything. Brigid poked at the octopus with her fork.
“That’s octopus,” I said.
She tasted it.
[40] She poked the sardines.
“Those are sardines,” I said.
She tried them.
Next came the horta.
“Wait!” I said. Too late. “You ate the dandelions!” I told her.
[45] We both laughed, and she ate another bite. “Not bad,” she said.
Mama was smiling at us.
After dinner, Brigid and I went to the backyard and stretched out on the grass. The stars reminded me
of dandelions in a soft field.
I closed my eyes and made a wish: to be as open-minded as my family and my new friend.
Copyright © Highlights for Children, Inc., Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.
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Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1. In the short story, sharing Greek food with the neighbors is important to Athena’s family.
How important do you think food and culture are to our identity? Consider a part of your
culture that is part of your identity, and evidence from the text, in your response.
2. Athena considers the types of food her family eats as something that makes them unique
even if she doesn’t want to share it. What is something your family does that you consider
unique? Do you share this practice with others? Why or why not?
3. Athena learns about how to be open-minded from her experience with Brigid. Have you
learned something about yourself from an experience with a friend, classmate, or family
member? Explain what you learned and how you learned it.

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Name: Class:

[1] Have you ever eaten a dandelion?

Have you ever blown dandelion seeds to make a

[5] “Time to go, Athena,” Mama said from the curb.

I toed the sidewalk and swung my book. She

“Baba and Yia-yia are waiting,” she said.

We drove west until the houses stopped. Then we stopped.

I wished Baba would turn the car around so we could go home.

[20] I looked for a place to hide.

“Nothing,” I said. “But why do we eat dandelions? No one else does.”

It seemed to take hours to fill the bags.

“Athena!” Yia-yia said. “Ta horta!”

“What about spaghetti and meatballs?” I asked.

“That’s Italian,” Yia-yia said. “We’re Greek.”

“Fried rice?” I teased.

1. Rummage (verb): to search carelessly through a mass

“That’s octopus,” I said.

She tasted it.

[40] She poked the sardines.

“Those are sardines,” I said.

She tried them.

Next came the horta.

Mama was smiling at us.

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