Summary:
Forge by Fire is about a little boy name Gerald. He's been brought up with a mother that can't live without drugs. Most of the time he's left at home to fend for himself unless his aunt is called by some neighbors that the little boy is at home all by himself. Although his mother loves him, he's abused but understands that what his mama says he must obey or else he will deal with the consequences. Until one day, she leaves him at home to go to the store. He looks for something to do to keep himself from getting bored while he waits for his mother to return. He finds a lighter and flicks it on, it catches on the curtain and starts spreading until its too late. Gerald wakes up in the hospital, his mother is taken in by the police for questioning and after that he learns that he will now live with his aunt Queen for a long time. He becomes a very dependable young man and is a big help to his aunt. One day he gets terrifying news that his mother is out of jail and wants to come and visit him. At first he says no, but his aunt talks him into just seeing his mother at least once. The day finally comes when she shows up at their house with a man and a little girl whom he later learns it's his half sister. Sometime later, aunt Queen has a heart attack and dies, and now Gerald has no where to go but to his mother. Years past he learns to love his sister and accepts his mother again, but not his step-father. He doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Gerald finds out that his sister has been afraid of their step-father when she was younger, and she is even more scared now than before. He tries to protect Angel as much as he can and notices that Jordan looks at Angel in weird ways that he doesn't understand. He tries to get Angel to tell him what is going on but always she shy's away and doesn't say anything until one day he comes home and finds Angel crying. She tells him what happened and he gets angry and wants to beat Angel up but can't confront him. He pleads with his mother to leave Jordan but Monique doesn't want to believe anything he says. One day Gerald confronts Mr. Washington about what has been happening with Angel and Jordan, and the man tells Gerald to let him know if it happens again. Jordan is caught trying to do nasty things to Angel and is sent to prison. Monique starts falling apart and the children become stronger in getting their family to get back up again. Finally, as Gerald was on his way home from a basketball game he felt uneasy and decided to run home cause he knew Angel was at home with Jordan. As he was running he could smell smoke and thought back on what happened the night he was caught in the fire of their apartment. When he got closer home he saw the smoke and ran up the flight of stairs quickly. He was yelling for Angel but did not get any replies from her, he busted the door to her room and saw Jordan trying to move towards Angel. He yelled out to Jordan "don't touch her you pervert", don't you know there's a fire. When everything was cleared, the fireman found Jordan dead by the door. Gerald and Angel were taken to the hospital with Monique riding with them in the ambulance. They will all become stronger and live a better life.
Biography:
Draper, M. S. (1997). Forged By Fire. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.
My Impression:
This is truly an inspirational story of a young man that has been through so much as a little boy, and even growing up as a young man. As a young boy Gerald was living with his mother, most of the time he spent alone, eating what ever he could find. Sometimes as he waited for his mother to come home, with a full loaded pamper, he never knew what to expect. She would be in a good mood, she would blow up when he bothered her at the wrong time, but she was still the beautiful angel, his mommy. This story is sad, at the same time full of excitement because his character at a very young age of abusive and left alone only made him stronger. Gerald was a very determined young man, who only wanted to find happiness. His life as a young boy was not pleasant, always having a hard time in life. I like how he never gave up especially when he met his half sister and knowing how she was been treated by their step-father. I would have just left and didn't care, but he decided to do something about it. A lot of children would have turned out bad, but Gerald was able to pull himself up and still be strong for his mother and sister.
Professional Review:
| Booklist
( February 15, 1997; 9780689806995 ) |
|||
| Gr. 7^-10. Gerald Nickelby, a minor character in Tears of a Tiger (1994), emerges full-fledged and courageous in this companion story. His stable life with a firm but loving aunt (who is caring for him while his mother serves a prison sentence for child neglect) is shattered when his mother returns to claim him on his ninth birthday. With her is a young daughter, Angel, to whom Gerald is drawn, and her husband, Jordan, whom Gerald instinctively dislikes. When Gerald learns that Jordan is sexually abusing Angel, he risks physical assault and public embarrassment to rescue her. Although written in a more conventional form than the earlier novel, the dialogue is still convincing, and the affection between Angel and Gerald rings true. With so much tragedy here (the car crash and death of Gerald's friend Rob in Tears are again recounted, though Draper, thankfully, stops before Andy Jackson's suicide), there is some danger of overloading the reader. Nevertheless, Draper faces some big issues (abuse, death, drugs) and provides concrete options and a positive African American role model in Gerald. --Candace Smith | |||
|
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. Review: Use in Library Setting: This book will be used in the library as a group discussion. Librarian will have students work in groups depending on how many students in the class. Each group will list the many ways of getting help and discuss with other groups what other assistance children are given in cases like this. Image retrieve from: http://www.walmart.com/ip/368418 |
No comments:
Post a Comment