Customer Reviews

Child of Fire

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The book "Child of Fire," by Scott O'Dell is not a book I recommend to young readers. This book deals with topics that readers who are not mature enough might not understand. For example violence and drugs are strong topics dealt with in this book. There is also a part in the book where the topic of abortion is mentioned. This happens when Manuel's girlfriend Yvonne tells him she's pregnant and wants three hundred dollars for an abortion. It ends up being a lie, she just wants Manuel's money. Either way it is still a topic that should not be exposed to young readers in a book,but if possible by their own parents. The book is basically about two young boys no older than sixteen who are both leaders in rival gangs. These two boys, Manuel Castillo and Ernie Sierra, compete against each other to see who is braver.Manuel's way of showing bravery is by jumping infront of a gate when the bull charges out of the tunnel.Luckily he does not get killed but risks his life just so people can see how "brave" he is. Ernie Sierra is a drug dealer who exports drugs from USA to Mexico using pigeons, like the ones used to send messages. Ben Delaney is Manuel's parole officer, who is also the narrator of the story.Throughout the story Delaney tries to keep Manuel out of trouble. I guess the best human concern developed by the author is courage. Not in the part of the two boys because killing people and selling drugs isn't being courages,but by the parole officer Delaney. Sometimes he had to face danger just to try to keep the two gangs from fighting.For example when he goes to Ernie's house to prevent Manuel from killing Ernie, he is risking his life by being caught in the middle and getting shot. Delaney is afraid of getting shot by Ernie, but he still tries to stop him from harming others. Throughout the story these two boys both commit acts that are unappropriate for children their age. Like I stated before Ernie sells drugs and also harms anyone that gets in his way. Manuel ends up in jail for causing a mutiny on a ship he was working on, and ends up escaping from jail. At the end of the story Manuel Castillo ends up getting killed by a grape picking machine. Not by accident but by displaying what he thought was courage or bravery. He jumped in front of the machine, (just like he did before with the bull) and did not move when it came towards him. The machine ended up squishing him just like if he were a grape.This story shows young readers the wrong idea of being courages, and is therefore not a book I recommend to young readers.