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Send No Blessings
A teenager in a large family that lives in a trailer yearns for love, approval, an escape from endless chores, and a chance to make something of herself; when a good and decent man, seven years her senior, falls in love with her, she realizes marriage to him could solve her problems.A teenager in a large family that lives in a trailer yearns for love, approval, an escape from endless chores, and a chance to make something of herself
- GenresYoung Adult
231 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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65 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
206 books1,038 followersPhyllis Reynolds Naylor was born in Anderson, Indiana, US on January 4, 1933.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
Her family were strongly religious with conservative, midwestern values and most of her childhood was spent moving a lot due to her father's occupation as a salesman.
Though she grew up during the Depression and her family did not have a lot of money, Naylor stated that she never felt poor because her family owned good books. Her parents enjoyed reading stories to the children--her father would imitate the characters in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--and her mother read to them every evening, "almost until we were old enough to go out on dates, though we never would have admitted this to anyone."
By the time Phyllis reached fifth grade, writing books was her favorite hobby and she would rush home from school each day to write down whatever plot had been forming in her head - at sixteen her first story was published in a local church magazine.
Phyllis has written over 80 books for children and young people. One of these books, "Shiloh," was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1992, was named a Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association and was also Young Adult Choice by the International Reading Association.
Naylor gets her ideas from things that happen to her or from things she has read. "Shiloh" was inspired by a little abused dog she and her husband found. The little dog haunted her so much that she had to write a story about him to get it out of her mind.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 24, 2010
This is a realistic look at life in the Appalachian mountains, and the hard choices that a teen from a large family with little money has to make. Beth wants something different from what her mother has had: a small trailer filled with children and not enough money to provide for them. She knows that getting an education and a good job are the way out, but school is becoming harder, and it would be so much easier to marry Harless, the young man she starts dating.
This was a bittersweet book, and felt very real. I liked that the main character wasn't just a stereotype. Often they plop a brainy overachiever into such a setting, and you know full well that she's going to get a scholarship and get out of there. Beth was smart, but was learning that she would have to work for it to really get good grades. She wanted something better, but could see the comfort in following in her parents' footsteps and staying where she was. An excellent book to give teens a real look at someone else's life.
This was a bittersweet book, and felt very real. I liked that the main character wasn't just a stereotype. Often they plop a brainy overachiever into such a setting, and you know full well that she's going to get a scholarship and get out of there. Beth was smart, but was learning that she would have to work for it to really get good grades. She wanted something better, but could see the comfort in following in her parents' footsteps and staying where she was. An excellent book to give teens a real look at someone else's life.
June 12, 2019
Original rating, age 15: 3.5 stars
It's funny how some books stick with / grow on you over time, even if you didn't adore them right away. This is one of those. After What's The Name of That Book? stirred up my memory, I suddenly couldn't wait to revisit this one. My memories were vague, only that I had appreciated Beth's hardscrabble life wrangling her siblings in an overstuffed trailer, and that I was enchanted by her love of typing class, because this was about a year before I learned how to "properly" type myself, and I was looking forward to taking Keyboarding (much easier w/ computer keys than typewriter).
Funnily enough, my first job in college was transcribing cassette tape interviews for a professor -- and I used a machine with a foot pedal, just like Beth. Still the second-best job I've ever had, shame the professor changed schools after one year. But I digress.
Reading it again this year, the plot details were mostly a surprise, and yet it swept over me with this deep wave of recognition. I read it very slowly, savoring every sentence. It was maybe a decade old when I first read it, so the difference was there but not stark, but now it feels like a time capsule of simpler days. The descriptions of her threadbare life, like so many of Naylor's books about those below the poverty line, are so evocative. It feels like you're there. I could picture the cramped trailer, the picturesque patch of land by the river on which it sits. The way her family may be short on money and possessions, but not on loyalty or love for each other (even if her father has trouble expressing it).
I still loved the typing class -- especially her silent rivalry with Stephanie (holla!) to be the best in class. That's so me! I also loved the chapters about her English class, including her essay excerpts. Loved, too, her admiration of the two female teachers that she marvels teach here when they could be doing something far more glamorous, and how much those women encourage and believe in her.
I had totally forgotten Harless, which goes to show you what a high priority on romance I placed back then, but he's a really sweet character, if a bit painfully "I'm a Man and have Needs, if ya know what I mean." He doesn't pressure her to the point of discomfort, but he makes it pretty clear that he'd like to get serious, and serious here means marriage in order to stay appropriate. That is one thing I like about YA in the 20th century -- sometimes the love interest of a teen is in their early 20s and people just roll with it as long as he isn't an obvious ne'er-do-well.
This book is a little more focused on sexuality than I expected, which is why I am wavering between a 4 and a 5 and which I'm sure played a part in its lower rating before. Never graphic, exactly, but there is definitely some topless making out, so I did wince a few times. But it actually all kind of works as a theme, given that reproduction is central to the circumstances of Beth's life.
There are references to the lack of soundproofing afforded by a trailer re: her parents' bedroom. A school nurse casually brings up the option of birth control as something that might help her mother. (And oh boy, does the Defiant Righteousness come flying out of her mother at that suggestion. "I'd done somethin' before to keep from having children, some of you wouldn't be here. Who you figure I could have done without, Beth? You? Lyle? Betty Jo? Shirley? Who you want to send back?") The importance of sex ed. comes into play, and is touched on rather thoughtfully by Beth, who is wholly sensible about the topic in general as well as how far she is personally willing to go, weighing desire and risk against her possible futures.
I do love that even though Beth isn't very good at school in general, she dreams of a prestigious job as a...typist. That is my kind of career dream! But I also love that even though she doesn't want to end up like her mother in the barefoot-and-pregnant way, she still considers settling down as a potential future when she realizes what a rush it is to be in love. And I also love that she is firm in her determination that even if she were to get married, she wouldn't settle down as a housewife without having at least a year or two in an independent career first.
Long story short, I just really love Beth Herndon. She's got a place among my favorite literary characters now for sure.
It's funny how some books stick with / grow on you over time, even if you didn't adore them right away. This is one of those. After What's The Name of That Book? stirred up my memory, I suddenly couldn't wait to revisit this one. My memories were vague, only that I had appreciated Beth's hardscrabble life wrangling her siblings in an overstuffed trailer, and that I was enchanted by her love of typing class, because this was about a year before I learned how to "properly" type myself, and I was looking forward to taking Keyboarding (much easier w/ computer keys than typewriter).
Funnily enough, my first job in college was transcribing cassette tape interviews for a professor -- and I used a machine with a foot pedal, just like Beth. Still the second-best job I've ever had, shame the professor changed schools after one year. But I digress.
Reading it again this year, the plot details were mostly a surprise, and yet it swept over me with this deep wave of recognition. I read it very slowly, savoring every sentence. It was maybe a decade old when I first read it, so the difference was there but not stark, but now it feels like a time capsule of simpler days. The descriptions of her threadbare life, like so many of Naylor's books about those below the poverty line, are so evocative. It feels like you're there. I could picture the cramped trailer, the picturesque patch of land by the river on which it sits. The way her family may be short on money and possessions, but not on loyalty or love for each other (even if her father has trouble expressing it).
I still loved the typing class -- especially her silent rivalry with Stephanie (holla!) to be the best in class. That's so me! I also loved the chapters about her English class, including her essay excerpts. Loved, too, her admiration of the two female teachers that she marvels teach here when they could be doing something far more glamorous, and how much those women encourage and believe in her.
I had totally forgotten Harless, which goes to show you what a high priority on romance I placed back then, but he's a really sweet character, if a bit painfully "I'm a Man and have Needs, if ya know what I mean." He doesn't pressure her to the point of discomfort, but he makes it pretty clear that he'd like to get serious, and serious here means marriage in order to stay appropriate. That is one thing I like about YA in the 20th century -- sometimes the love interest of a teen is in their early 20s and people just roll with it as long as he isn't an obvious ne'er-do-well.
This book is a little more focused on sexuality than I expected, which is why I am wavering between a 4 and a 5 and which I'm sure played a part in its lower rating before. Never graphic, exactly, but there is definitely some topless making out, so I did wince a few times. But it actually all kind of works as a theme, given that reproduction is central to the circumstances of Beth's life.
There are references to the lack of soundproofing afforded by a trailer re: her parents' bedroom. A school nurse casually brings up the option of birth control as something that might help her mother. (And oh boy, does the Defiant Righteousness come flying out of her mother at that suggestion. "I'd done somethin' before to keep from having children, some of you wouldn't be here. Who you figure I could have done without, Beth? You? Lyle? Betty Jo? Shirley? Who you want to send back?") The importance of sex ed. comes into play, and is touched on rather thoughtfully by Beth, who is wholly sensible about the topic in general as well as how far she is personally willing to go, weighing desire and risk against her possible futures.
I do love that even though Beth isn't very good at school in general, she dreams of a prestigious job as a...typist. That is my kind of career dream! But I also love that even though she doesn't want to end up like her mother in the barefoot-and-pregnant way, she still considers settling down as a potential future when she realizes what a rush it is to be in love. And I also love that she is firm in her determination that even if she were to get married, she wouldn't settle down as a housewife without having at least a year or two in an independent career first.
Long story short, I just really love Beth Herndon. She's got a place among my favorite literary characters now for sure.
February 24, 2012
When i read this book it was an eye opener to me about the way some people live. i never thought that poeple could be so cruel to their children, or that too many children could be harmful to a family. it is a good story about growing up, finding love, but most of all she found herself. I reread this book alot because the life she lived was so interesting to me and i put myself in her shoes. hey family truly was poor, and even things as simple as making flowers to earn money would take presidence over schooling. the way they celebrated holidays, with homemade decroations, and how she went without so much as they squeezed into one trailer really gave me a new perspective on family life in poor areas.
July 1, 2014
Found this on the library shelf at the school where I teach grade six. A sweet story about making choices. I thought that it might prove interesting to some of my students, but with the references to typing class, dicta phones etc as well as the unfamiliar setting of West Virginia, many may not have the persistence. Along with the theme of teenage sex and marriage it is probably better for older students. They have all been reading The Hunger Games and the Fault in the Stars(?), so the innocent sex doesn't concern be, rather the long passages of Beth's thinking and wondering.
April 2, 2024
3 1/2 ***
October 5, 2011
Beth is the oldest child in her family. She has to take care of her 8 siblings. At the beginning, she thought her parents didn't love her and forced her to leave from high school even though she was just 15 years-old.They wanted Beth to go to work earlier because their family was poor.Beth is good at typing,her father considered she should drop out her school if she is not the top student in her school.
Later, Beth was fall in love with Harless. He told her that her father loves her so much in fact However, Beth's father change the perception of Harless because he stay with Beth until 4 o'clock next morning... Beth argued with her father.. I love the paragraph at the bottom on page 195 to the middle of page 196. Those paragraphs are about convensations between Beth's and her fatehr's.Beth believed that is the nicest thing she ever heard from her father. Are you interested in the development of the story? what is the ending about Beth's future and her love?! Let's go read it!!! xD
Later, Beth was fall in love with Harless. He told her that her father loves her so much in fact However, Beth's father change the perception of Harless because he stay with Beth until 4 o'clock next morning... Beth argued with her father.. I love the paragraph at the bottom on page 195 to the middle of page 196. Those paragraphs are about convensations between Beth's and her fatehr's.Beth believed that is the nicest thing she ever heard from her father. Are you interested in the development of the story? what is the ending about Beth's future and her love?! Let's go read it!!! xD
July 13, 2009
This is a book I'd recommend for teens because it discusses choices they must make. However, I think many teens may be unable to relate to it because it is set in Appalachia, and often they are unable to "see beyond the setting." The issues of choosing marriage, going to college, having children, and even just finishing high school are issues faced by teens anywhere.
Currently reading
November 12, 2009well i just gt this book so far because the name of the cover looks so insteresting because it's called send no blessings and so far i kind of can connect to that title and hoping this story can relate to me. so i will be sending up dates on this book.
August 9, 2011
It definetly wasn't the best book i've ever read, but still I don't regret reading it. I liked it fine. I guess it just wasn't one of those books that have you on the edge of your seat, but it was still well written.
Read
February 17, 2014Good book. I kind of wish for either a different ending, or a sequal.
Read
January 6, 2016Another read from my teens. I remember that it had *gasp* sex!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews