Strong for potatoes

Strong for Potatoes is the story of the difficult coming of age of Blue Willoughby, a remarkable girl growing up in eastern Maine.

Blue's young life is defined by two events: an accident that left her with a glass eye and a scarred face, and the death of her twin sister, Berry, born without a brain and unable to survive beyond a few days after their birth. For Blue, faced with her mother's dreamy indifference and her photographer father's habit of hiding behind a camera, Berry's image serves as a mute, supportive presence Blue can call forth into her mind practically at will.

But Blue's real, flesh-and-blood ally is her grandfather, a full-blooded Passamoquoddy Indian who teaches Blue the lessons that could save her when everything else fails: that the ways of nature can illuminate life; that family can be depended upon; that true passion is worth waiting for; and that grief can heal.

Most important, he teaches her the ways of the Passamoquoddy, including the art of weaving baskets from ash and sweet grass - knowledge Blue will need to find a sense of herself to discover where she came from, and even to determine where she's headed.