Reviews for Mother's blessing
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
In the tenth century, Old Man prophesies the birth of a great ``wot'' (leader) to Swordfish and Pretty One. But the baby is a girl: Old Man is exiled for his falsehoods, and Swordfish abandons Pretty One and her daughter. But ``Child'' is extraordinarily bright and capable; as an adolescent, she travels east from what is now California on a spirit quest, discovering the prophecy and its truth. Returning home with corn that grows in spite of drought, she takes her place as ``pacwot''--unifier and leader of three feuding villages, ensuring the survival of all. Presented as a prequel to Spinka's first book (White Hare's Horses, 1991, also about the Chumash lands and people), this further establishes the author's skill as a fluent storyteller who is well versed in North American legend. Readers may be mildly distanced from the heroine, whose struggles are minor given her idealized intellect and nobility; however, Spinka's search for the human incarnations of mythical figures and her creative realizations of archetypal events are entirely captivating. (Fiction. 10-14)
School Library Journal
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Gr 6-8-- In prehistoric southern California, the birth of a chief's daughter (instead of the expected son) precipitates the exile of the child and her mother, and enmity between two villages. The two find shelter in a remote valley with a wise woman feared by the villagers, and the girl grows up self-confident and skilled with the bow. Eventually, in quest of her spirit guide, she travels to the area we call New Mexico, finds the guide she has foreseen, and learns that she is the powerful leader awaited by her people. This plot is the novel's strong point. Its weaknesses are technical. There is a tendency for characters to describe or explain their native customs to each other, as well as some anachronistic attitudes or assumptions. Most damaging, however, is the flatness of the writing. The characters seldom come alive; the heroine is as schematic as the generic names (``Child,'' ``New Woman'') she bears. She never has enough emotion or personality to make her supposed falling in love at the end credible. The language isn't clumsy, just thin: opportunities for vivid description are missed, and when the heroine speculates on her spirit guide she thinks, banally, ``He must be nice.'' Mother's Blessing is apprentice work, but shows potential, and readers interested in the anthropological or early Native American material may overlook the lack of style and technical flaws. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Fiction: O When the baby prophesied to be a great leader turns out to be a girl, the tribal chief divorces his wife and disowns the child, named Four Cries. As she grows, Four Cries hungers for knowledge and constantly demonstrates and shares her skills and courage. This contrived, often anachronistic prequel to [cf2]White Hare's Horses[cf1] (Atheneum), is set in southern California and the Southwest five hundred years before Columbus. Horn Rating: Recommended, with minor flaws. Reviewed by: bb (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
