LARS'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON'S "FORGE"

FORGE. By Laurie Halse Anderson. Atheneum, 2010. 304 pages.

Unlike Chains, its War of Independence predecessor, Forge wastes no time getting in gear. Curzon, a young slave whom we had last seen as his friend Isabel rescued him from a British prison ship, is almost immediately thrown into the Battles of Saratoga.

As fighting overtakes him, Curzon hides in the woods, only to witness a showdown between a redcoat and a Patriot soldier. The Continental, fumbling to reload his flintlock, looks to be an easy target. Then Curzon unleashes a rock at the British soldier. His shot goes awry. The American fires and a musket ball tears the Englishman’s guts open.

With a riveting beginning like that, Forge can’t go wrong. I felt that the first half of Chains was dragged down by the relationship between Isabel and her developmentally delayed sister, Ruth. Anderson’s explanation of that relationship held up the action. No such problem here. Ruth is not in this one at all.

Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, demonstrating to the French that the rebels had a viable army that was capable of defeating the mighty British Empire. But with Philadelphia occupied, the Americans’ cause was hardly assured. They really proved their mettle by surviving the winter at Valley Forge.

Curzon, who befriends the American soldier and enlists in the Continental Army, also survives Valley Forge. His friend Eben, a wonderful character delightfully drawn by Anderson, is forced to look at slavery in a new light, due to the bond he forms with the black teenager who saves his life.

Curzon believes his service under General Washington means that he is now free, but soon finds out that white men don’t have to keep their word—if it’s given to a slave. His old master appears at the encampment and reclaims his property. There is one benefit for Curzon: Bellingham also owns Isabel.

How she and Curzon, both so strong-willed, face the injustice of their condition, as well as their feelings for each other, makes for an engrossing tale, told with drama and humor.

I listened to Forge, and was not particularly taken by the narrator, Tim Cain. However, the first person voice of Curzon and the fast-paced story line erased any difficulties with Cain’s mediocre delivery. Anderson’s second installment in her Seeds of America trilogy gives young readers a galvanizing look at this important period in American history.

Recommended for fifth graders on up.