Tommy Lerner is seven years old and struggling to cope with the craziness of school, Little League Baseball, uncomprehending peers, and incomprehensible adults. Growing up in a small Arizona town during the 1950s can be tough, but Tommy’s challenges are compounded by his innate intelligence and uncontrollable temper. Although small and thin, he is always ready to fight.
Fortunately, his family is loving and supportive. Also an orphan from the age of nine, Frank Lerner had to drop out of school to literally fight for survival. Complicating Frank’s efforts to give advice is the fact that he must hide a deep, dark secret from everyone related to Tommy’s real parents. Maria Lerner is a very devoted and devout woman, but only graduated from high school. Maria’s widowed mother, Abuela, offers Tommy as much advice as he will allow, drawing on her background as a teacher in Mexico.
As Tommy struggles with school, racism, bullies and himself, he gradually learns to think before reacting. Ultimately, the young man must come to grips alone with the knowledge of how totally Frank Lerner affected his life, for better or for worse. Success against the odds requires courage, determination and faith. And love – lots of love.
Genre: FICTION / Coming of Age40,670
Wrapped up in his own world, Tommy barely snatched his foot back before it descended on the soft bundle in front of him. Standing stiffly, he focused his gaze on the pile of feathers on the sidewalk. It was a bird, a cactus wren, and it was definitely dead.
Tommy instinctively knew the bird had broken its neck by flying into the window. He felt his throat go tight at the thought of the waste of such a pretty creature. His chin started to tremble, knowing he could not help the bird, after all the times his mother and father had asked him to be kind and to try to help all creatures. He wondered if there was ever anything that was fair in the world.
Suddenly, Tommy was furious at a world that would cheat a man like his father, that would let those stupid people at the school treat him like a fool and a criminal, that would allow hard working people to be dirt poor, that would allow bullies to get away with hurting anybody they wanted, that would allow . . . that would allow . . . that would allow stupid birds to think the air was open and free, that their freedom in flight would allow them to swoop and soar anywhere in the whole wide world they wanted. Instead, they could fly into things they couldn’t even see. He was furious at the stupid bird who was too ignorant to even know such problems existed, so broke his own neck on those invisible barriers.
“Stupid bird!” Tommy screamed at the lifeless creature at his feet. He could hardly see the bird because of the fury in his brain and the tears in his eyes. “You want to be an ignorant failure all your life?”
He suddenly snatched at the broken body and flung it once again against the glass. “See, you can’t get past it! Stupid bird!”
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Italian
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Romina Russo
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Spanish
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Carlos Romero
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