Project Mulberry

Waiting for the eggs to hatch, Julia and Patrick make several trips to Mr. Dixon’s house to collect leaves. During one trip, they encounter Mr. Dixon weeding in his garden. To thank him for letting them use his mulberry tree, Julia and Patrick offer to help him with his gardening. Mr. Dixon accepts their offer and prepares a snack for them. They all enjoy Mr. Dixon’s homemade brownies and lemonade, and Mr. Dixon tells the kids about his family, now passed or living far away. When they leave, he sends them home with more brownies as well as the mulberry leaves. Feeling generous, Julia gives her extra brownie to Kenny but scolds him when he makes a mess. Julia is in turn scolded by Mrs. Song, who is angry that Julia stayed longer than planned at Mr. Dixon’s. Julia can understand some of her mother’s concerns but suspects that her mother’s displeasure may also be connected to her prejudice.

Two days later, Julia is distracted from her concerns by the silkworms: They have hatched. Ecstatic, Julia notifies Patrick, who rushes over. They observe the worms. Due to their tiny size and weakness, Julia must carefully move them to new leaves one by one via sewing pin.

In the chapter dialogue, Julia complains that her mistakes are obvious to the reader but Ms. Park’s are not. She reveals a quote from the first draft of Project Mulberry and points out several writing choices that Ms. Park has since improved. Ms. Park describes her editing experience as similar to Julia’s embroidery practice; though the correction process can be long and tedious, she enjoys it.

The silkworms grow quickly and eat voraciously. Patrick begins filming them twice a day while changing out the mulberry leaves. Julia notices that the worms attach themselves to the leaves using a thin webbing and wonders if they recognize her scent. By day five post-hatching, the worms can move on their own.

The following Tuesday, Julia and Patrick visit Mr. Maxwell’s farm on a Wiggle Club field trip. Mr. Maxwell is a sustainable farmer, so he cycles cows, chickens, and sheep throughout his fields, allowing them time to lie fallow. This sustainable cycle inspires Julia and reminds her of the silkworm project. After the field trip, Julia and Patrick visit Mr. Dixon to collect leaves but tell him they can’t stay long.

The silkworms have huge appetites, so the kids must return to Mr. Dixon’s sooner than expected. Julia worries about Mrs. Song’s reaction to this but hypothesizes that Mrs. Song’s experience raising silkworms will convince her of the necessity. On Julia and Patrick’s next visit, Mr. Dixon tells them that he enjoys their company and would appreciate spending more time with them. As a peace offering, he gives Julia a bouquet of sweet pea flowers and some frozen spicy peppers from his garden to give to Mrs. Song, but he mistakenly assumes the Songs are Chinese. Patrick quickly corrects him—Mr. Dixon takes this in stride—but Julia remembers her experiences with prejudice, racial slurs, and mistaken identities and remains uncomfortable. Later, she realizes that people of any ethnicity can be prejudiced or make incorrect assumptions.

In the end-of-chapter dialogue, Julia reels from this epiphany. She and Ms. Park discuss ways to distract oneself. Out of all the suggestions Ms. Park gives, Julia decides to set the issue aside for another time.

The following morning, Patrick and Julia conduct a mini-experiment: comparing Mr. Maxwell’s chicken eggs (from the field trip) and battery eggs from the store. They observe clear visual and textural differences between the eggs, but to them, the difference in taste isn’t very noticeable. Mrs. Song, whose family raised chickens in Korea, notices the difference much more. Julia and Patrick recognize the difficulty in marketing organic, free-range eggs; Julia tries to convince Mrs. Song to buy Mr. Maxwell’s eggs but gets a noncommittal response. Patrick is inspired by Mr. Maxwell’s farm and wants to incorporate sustainability into their silkworm project. He suggests using silkworm droppings to fertilize the mulberry tree. Julia is less enthusiastic about it, though Mr. Maxwell is thrilled.

Julia becomes increasingly fond of the silkworms. Patrick does not. When the silkworms are two weeks old, Julia checks on them and mistakenly thinks several have died until Kenny points out that the skins are hollow. When Patrick arrives, he explains that the worms are molting and that they will molt twice more in the future. Patrick takes charge of the film and photography, while Julia practices her embroidery, though she still hasn’t decided what her final design will be. Mrs. Song reluctantly agrees to let the kids visit Mr. Dixon, though she sets her own boundaries. Julia hopes the prejudice issue has been resolved, but a comment from Mrs. Song leaves her in doubt.

As the worms continue to grow, Julia wonders if she can tell them apart as individuals. Patrick claims that this is impossible, saying sex characteristics are only visible in the moths. Julia attempts to diffuse their argument by asking him if he wants to hold one. His adamant refusal confuses her, and she confronts him about it. Patrick reveals his scoleciphobia (fear of worms) and says he chose this project not just because it fit the animal husbandry category, but also because he hoped it would help him face his phobia. Filming them has helped already.

In her dialogue with Ms. Park, Julia realizes that Patrick’s scoleciphobia stems from Park’s own fear of worms. Park admits that Julia is right, but when Julia asks why she (Julia) isn’t phobic, Park says she’s “just not the type” (161).