Blessing's Bead

By Edwardson, Debby Dahl

Publishers Summary:
Nutaaq and her older sister, Aaluk, are on a great journey, sailing from a small island off the coast of Alaska to the annual trade fair. There, a handsome young Siberian wearing a string of cobalt blue beads watches Aaluk “the way a wolf watches a caribou, never resting.” Soon his actions—and other events more horrible than Nutaaq could ever imagine—threaten to shatter her I~nupiaq world. Seventy years later, Nutaaq’s greatgranddaughter, Blessing, is on her own journey, running from the wreckage of her life in Anchorage to live in a remote Arctic village with a grandmother she barely remembers. In her new home, unfriendly girls whisper in a language she can’t understand, and Blessing feels like an outsider among her own people. Until she finds a cobalt blue bead—Nutaaq’s bead—in her grandmother’s sewing tin. The events this discovery triggers reveal the power of family and heritage to heal, despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Two distinct teenage voices pull readers into the native world of northern Alaska in this beautifully crafted and compelling debut novel.

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ISBN
978-0-37430-805-6
Publisher
Kroupa Farrar


REVIEWS

School Library Journal

Reviewed on November 1, 2009

Gr 8-Up In 1917, Aaluk is drawn away from her small Alaskan village by a handsome young Siberian, tempted by his beautiful blue beads and wooed by mysteries across the sea. She leaves her sister with two beads and a promise: she will be back with a bead for every person in her Inupiaq family. Nutaaq watches the ocean and waits, year after year, but she never sees her sister again. In 1989, 14-year-old Blessing and her younger brother are taken away from their abusive stepfather and loving, but irresponsible and alcoho...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Horn Book Magazine

Reviewed on November 1, 2009

In 1989, Blessing (her Inupiaq name is Nutaaq) and her little brother Isaac (Tupaaq) are taken from their alcoholic mother and her abusive partner in Anchorage and placed in the custody of their aaka (grandmother). In Aaka's village, far in the north, they discover their past—old ways observed, the Arctic environment, a host of relatives—and family stories. Readers are primed for these by the novel's first section, where another Nutaaq (Aaka's mother) recounts the l...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Horn Book Guide

Reviewed on January 1, 2009

In 1989, Blessing and her brother are placed in the custody of their <i>aaka</i> (grandmother). The siblings discover their past through ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Junior Library Guild

Reviewed on March 1, 2010

Touching, realistic stories with believable, sympathetic characters. The two narrators h...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

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