Synopsis and style

This book is a chronology of the early life of the author, Richard B. Johnson

Richard B. Johnson

Richard Brian Johnson is the author of the book Abominable Firebug which presents his account of daily life at the Lyman School for Boys. Johnson invented the Rubber Ducky antenna while attending the Lyman School for Boys. Johnson went on to a career as an engineer and inventor. He also created...

, starting in the town of North Brookfield, Massachusetts

North Brookfield, Massachusetts

North Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,680 at the 2010 census.For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place North Brookfield, please see the article North Brookfield , Massachusetts.- History :North Brookfield...

. It begins at about the age of two and continues until Johnson is 21 years of age. The book details the significant events in the author’s life leading to his incarceration in America’s first reform school, the Lyman School for Boys

Lyman School for Boys

The Lyman School for Boys was established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts about 1886 and was closed in 1971. It was the first reform school, or training school in the United States, replacing the State Reform School near the same site, which was opened in 1846...

 in the late 1950s.

Explanation of the title

When the author lived in an institutional foster home, the Stetson Home for Boys

Stetson School

The Stetson School is a private residential institution located in Barre, Massachusetts.-History:Founded in 1899, by Henry Augustus Pevear, and then known as the Stetson Home for Boys began as an orphanage. It supported itself as a commercial dairy farm wherein each of its capable residents worked...

, in Barre, Massachusetts

Barre, Massachusetts

Barre is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,398 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called the Northwest District of Rutland, it was first settled in 1720. The town was incorporated on June 17, 1774, as Hutchinson after Thomas Hutchinson, colonial...

, as an indentured servant, he built a relatively large solid-fuel rocket. The last flight of this rocket resulted in the institution’s barn being set on fire. The author was charged as a juvenile with the crime of arson and then remanded to the custody of the Massachusetts Youth Service Board and sent to the Roslindale detention center

Detention center

A detention center or a detention centre is any location used for detention. Specifically, it can mean:*A jail or prison*A structure for immigration detention*An internment camp or concentration camp...

. Thereupon, he was called a firebug

Pyromania

Pyromania in more extreme circumstances can be an impulse control disorder to deliberately start fires to relieve tension or for gratification or relief. The term pyromania comes from the Greek word πῦρ . Pyromania and pyromaniacs are distinct from arson, the pursuit of personal, monetary or...

 by the juvenile authorities.

Governmental abuse of children under its care

In particular, the book details the physical

Physical abuse

Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...

, emotional, and sexual abuse

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...

 meted out by agents of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Youth Service Board (YSB), later becoming the Department of Youth Services (DYS). Johnson provides descriptions of the abuse

Abuse

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, sexual assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime, or otherwise...

 he and other boys received but stops short of any prurient references. Although this book has much to do about child abuse

Child abuse

Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

, the main theme is one of survival. Johnson was able to find some mentors who helped him become a successful adult and he names them and gives the details in his book.

Significance

The book is significant because it details the day-to-day life of inmates in America’s first reform school

Reform school

A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...

, the Lyman School for Boys. Written from the perspective of a resident who, because of earlier experiences, thought that this school was a good place to live, it provides a unique view into the problems and solutions facing the juvenile correctional

Juvenile delinquency

Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...

 facilities at the time. The book also details some of the many problems encountered by children growing up in institutional settings such as institutional foster homes. For instance, there is a particularly poignant story about a Boston police officer beating Johnson when he was discovered playing a church pipe organ that he had recently repaired. The management of the foster home could not do anything about that because such police activity was considered “normal,” so Johnson should have avoided the police.

Mentoring

This book demonstrates the value of mentor

Mentor

In Greek mythology, Mentor was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus' foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus' palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.When Athena visited Telemachus she...

s in a child’s life. Even as Johnson was approaching adulthood, he found people who had the faith to trust him with activities of significant consequence. For instance, at the age of eighteen Johnson’s boss at a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 let him build a new radio transmitter. Another mentor in Boston taught him to repair a pipe organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 and trusted him to do the right thing.

Resilience of youth

Throughout the book is continual evidence of the resilience

Psychological resilience

Resilience in psychology refers to the idea of an individual's tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function...

of youth. As Johnson would encounter some problem and fail, he would immediately do something else and succeed. The book demonstrates the idea that there should never be a “lost cause” when dealing with youth. In the worst possible circumstances, it is certainly possible to succeed.

Techniques

The book heads each chapter with a photograph and contains several poems that Johnson wrote as a child while enduring his captivity. At several metaphorical intervals, Johnson writes prose that reads like poetry. Dr. Mary Clisbee, established educator of special needs children, writes the foreword and Rev. F. Robert Brown, Johnson’s chaplain while at the Lyman School, writes the afterword. Rev. "Bob" Brown later worked for the newly formed DYS helping correct its horrific past.

Reviews

• Book review from EdNews