Jacket Copy From Breath of the Dragon
In a small village in Thailand, one bright sunny morning, Malila’s mother took her to grandmother’s house and left her there. Soon Grandmother told Malila , who was five years old, that her mother had gone to America to make a new life.
While Maliala waited for her mother to send for her, she lived with Grandmother, listening to the old woman’s stories, drawing pictures, and learning the way of the Thai people. Malila learned, too, the feeling of being an outsider, as a secret from her family’s past turned the villagers against her. “The dragon has breathed upon you today,” Grandmother told her, after a hurtful rejection by other children. “The dragon‘s breath brings great pain and sorrow, but it can turn coal into diamond.”
The story of Malila’s time with her grandmother is a poignant, inspiring account of a resilient and talented young girl find her way. It is also a vivid portrait of life in a Thai village today.
