Blog #1

    The book I chose to read was Forged By Fire By Shannon M. Draper. It's a realistic fiction story that gives a vivid detailed of how it was like living in many inner-cities all across the country. The Main character, Gerald, a boy that lives in Cincinnati with his mother. His mother would often abandoned him to go see a drug dealer and then a fire broke out while he was at home by himself. He got to the hospital and His Aunt Queen was granted full custody of Gerald. The story truly began when his Aunt Queen passes away, forcing Gerald to move back in with his mother, newly sister, and his sister's boyfriend. Who is extremely abusive. I began to research Abuse and how it affects people and knowing someone like my mother that has gone through some extensive abuse made me realize that It has some post traumatic affects to it. I began to also search up how poverty causes crimes in the Inner-cities. I remember talking about that with my Dad. Who is a Cook County Sheriff and he too said that poverty is an important factor in the ongoing crime. Especially in a city like Chicago. I do feel like this Is a story that many people can relate and when explaining the background of the story to my mother, I could see that It resonated with her as well. A book like this has a very powerful message when It comes to perseverance. I always liked reading stories like this because one, It takes place in the modern day unlike a lot of the books we've read, It contains a true challenge within the main character Gerald, and Like I said before I can relate to the struggles Gerald  has endured throughout the story. One thing Gerald used as his sanctuary was.......yup......Basketball. The book talks to me in all ways. Aunt Queen is like my grandma. They both have a southern slang although born in the midwest, and have these metaphorical and figurative sayings that I will never forget. A lot different from most of the books I've read all year. I reccommend It to anyone that wants to read a realistic story on the true troubles many African Americans go through. This book made me ask myself what has America really done for African Americans in the last 50 years? That's a question I try not to ask myself because It's a very complicated one. So a tough answer came upon my my mind, So I'll leave it for my next post