It was about a scruffy neighborhood and a rose

[imogen]

I have been searching for this book or short story for months now--please help! It was about a neighborhood where nobody cleaned up after themselves or cared for their surroundings. In a heap of garbage along a sidewalk a rose either gets planted or just starts to grow on its own. It grows, and someone notices. They decide that the rose is so beautiful that he/she clears some space around the rose so that it can be seen better. Someone else glimpses the rose from their grimy window, and polishes a little circle in the glass to take a better look. Doing this makes him/her notice how dirty the rest of the window is, and so he/she cleans it, and this makes him/her want to clean all the windows, and this makes him/her see how dirty the house is and so the whole house gets cleaned. it goes on like that, with everyone noticing the rose and cleaning and polishing all around it until the whole neighborhood is shined up from one rose. This ring any bells?
Thanks!

 

[Kookamoor]

Sorry, imogen - I had a look around and couldn't find anything. What reading level was this aimed at? It sounds like it could be a short story, or perhaps a book for younger people.

 

[imogen]

I am not sure what reading level it was. My initial thought had been that it was a story by Betty Smith; I thought it was a sub-story in her book Maggie-Now. But I read that again and it isn't in there. The only other thought is that it might have been in with a short story compilation-- I had a number of old Reader's Digest compilations. It is possible it was for a younger set, but I don't think it was picture book level- more 9-14. It may have been just a story that someone told someone else in a larger story; that's why I had the impression it might have been Smith.