Send No Blessings [Hardcover]

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1990

Blessings, that's what her mother called her children, all eight of them. To Beth, the oldest, fifteen and a sophomore in high school, eight seemed too many to be cooped up in the family's double-wide trailer. Beth wanted something more, something different, for herself. She had never been anywhere but her small West Virginia town and she wanted to get away, especially when she learned that there was to be yet another "blessing."

Typing was the key, she thought. She was better at typing than even Stephanie King, who got good grades in all her classes. How wonderful it would be to work in an office, enjoying a place that was your own!

But there were other things Beth wanted, too, most of all love and recognition from her father, who seemed to do nothing but put her down. She craved love. And that was why, when Harless Prather came along, it seemed to be almost a miracle. He was older than she, out of high school, had a job, and was ready to marry. Marriage would take her out of the family trailer, but to what? Could she settle for a life that might turn out to be Just like her mother's: too many children, never quite enough money or space, never a chance to find out who she was and what she could do?

Beth had a choice to make, which did not get easier when a new semester proved far more difficult than she had expected. Should she take love when it was offered? Or was there something more? Beth's family and its problems, her teachers, and Harless, too, all helped, but it was Beth alone who really set her course for the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This rambling novel contains an odd mixture of trite and poignant elements. Though the plot manages to incorporate nearly every cliche of the rural coming-of-age story, the result is surprisingly endearing. Moving at an unhurried pace, Naylor's tale will leave persevering readers with a distinct picture of a busy and momentous year in the heroine's life. Between looking after her seven brothers and sisters and working part-time, Beth, 15, has plenty to keep her occupied. At school, she is the star of her typing class, a skill that could provide a way out of her family's cramped trailer, even out of West Virginia itself. But then there's Harless, Beth's 22-year-old boyfriend, who wants to marry her and start a family; even Beth's harshly critical father approves of this relationship. After considerable soul-searching and hard work, Beth sets a course that is right for her--and discovers, along the way, the true reasons for her father's nastiness. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

A child of Appalachia, 15-year-old Beth Herndon lives with her family in a trailer home by the river. Although her mother, Lorna, speaks of the eight Herndon children as blessings, Beth is determined to avoid a life of childbearing and drudgery. In her sophomore year, she discovers her aptitude for typing and envisions a secretarial career, until her deficiencies in grammar and spelling threaten the dream. Seeking the love and support that are lacking at home, Beth enters a romantic relationship with 22-year-old Harless. She comes to love him, and his serious intentions buoy up her sagging self-esteem, but Beth fears she is headed for marriage and Lorna's lot. Then Lorna loses her ninth baby and Beth's younger sister becomes pregnant. These unfortunate events convince Beth that a continued relationship with Harless could be disastrous. As the school year ends, concerned teachers award Beth a scholarship for a three-week career-planning seminar at a state university. She sets out for the university, but not before her father belatedly offers his love and approval. Naylor excels in portraying the hard life of the Herndon family--the crowded trailer, the meager meals, the many pregnancies. As in String of Chances (Fawcett, 1983), she vividly describes a teenager's role in home birth and child care. Although the plot weakens when Beth receives the unsolicited scholarship, the realistic and moving depiction of rural poverty and a girl's yearning for escape offset the pat ending. --Pat Katka, San Diego Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (September 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689315821
• ISBN-13: 978-0689315824
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,205,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I guess I've been writing for about as long as I can remember. Telling stories, anyway, if not writing them down. I had my first short story published when I was sixteen, and wrote stories to help put myself through college, planning to become a clinical psychologist. By the time I graduated with a BA degree, however, I decided that writing was really my first love, so I gave up plans for graduate school and began writing full time.

I'm not happy unless I spend some time writing every day. It's as though pressure builds up inside me, and writing even a little helps to release it. On a hard-writing day, I write about six hours. Tending to other writing business, answering mail, and just thinking about a book takes another four hours. I spend from three months to a year on a children's book, depending on how well I know the characters before I begin and how much research I need to do. A novel for adults, because it's longer, takes a year or more. When my work is going well, I wake early in the mornings, hoping it's time to get up. When the writing is hard and the words are flat, I'm not very pleasant to be around.

Getting an idea for a book is the easy part. Keeping other ideas away while I'm working on one story is what's difficult. My books are based on things that have happened to me, things I have heard or read about, all mixed up with imaginings. The best part about writing is the moment a character comes alive on paper, or when a place that existed only in my head becomes real. There are no bands playing at this moment, no audience applauding--a very solitary time, actually--but it's what I like most. I've now had more than 120 books published, and about 2000 short stories, articles and poems.

I live in Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband, Rex, a speech pathologist, who's the first person to read my manuscripts when they're finished. Our sons, Jeff and Michael, are grown now, but along with their wives and children, we often enjoy vacations together in the mountains or at the ocean. When I'm not writing, I like to hike, swim, play the piano and attend the theater.

I'm lucky to have my family, because they have contributed a great deal to my books. But I'm also lucky to have the troop of noisy, chattering characters who travel with me inside my head. As long as they are poking, prodding, demanding a place in a book, I have things to do and stories to tell.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For older , mature teens, May 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Send No Blessings (Hardcover)

I read this book as part of the requirements for an adolescent literature course. Surprisingly, I liked it. Like all teens, Beth faced the pressures of being herself, pleasing her family, fitting in with friends, and still working hard in school. Like many Appalachian young adults, she knows that education is a way to leave the poverty-striken life her family has, even if she should decide to live nearby.

I liked the character of Beth because she showed strength--strength to adhere to family ties while defying what was expected by the family, the grit to work create a better life for herself, and yet the ability not to compromise her plans for her future.

I would not recommend this for a high school reading list, but if my teenaged daughter wanted to read it, I certainly would not find it offending.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!, July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Send No Blessings (Hardcover)

I loved it! I live in a small town in West Virginia, like the main character and I know what it's like to look out your window and see the beautiful mountains. I also know what it was like for Beth with her parents wanting something for her that she didn't want.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book That I Have Ever Read!, January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Send No Blessings (Hardcover)

I think that every teenager should read this book. Beth just displays to me that she is such a hard worker and she tried everyday to keep her family in good health and helping her mother. I wanted her and Harless to get married all through the book. I think that they should make a movie about the book and Beth should be played by Katie Holmes. Hey, it's a thought! Thanks!