$16.99
ISBN-13: 9780374308056
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 11/2009
Blessings Bead is in inspiring book about how family traditions and heritage shine from within. A young Eskimo named Blessing whose mother has a drinking problem and relies on her income from playing bingo, and whose father is abusive; ends up living with her grandmother in a traditional Eskimo village. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Blessing is forced to learn how to survive and earn the honor from her village.Blessing ends up finding an heirloom that once belonged to her great grandmother. This large blue bead has powers that helped protect her ancestors against death and illness. She hopes this powerful bead will help protect her against the constant bullying from a classmate named Sylvia. To keep her mind off of the problems with Sylvia, Blessing gets enrolled in a traditional Eskimo dancing class. There, she outshines everyone and recieved much attention from her elders but much hatred from Sylvia. Along with excelling in dance she also recieved much attention in class. Blessing writes a letter to her mother who in return calls her and asks her to move back to Anchorage. The problem now, is that Blessing has just settled in. She doesn't want to move back to a world where people seem so emotionless, where she is the only outcast in class, and where her father is abusing her mother while her mother seems to just waste the bingo winnings on alcohol. Will she go back to her traditional life with her mother and father or live with her long lost Eskimo family?
