Curiosity: A Child's Chess Game for Freedom

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Curiosity: Novel Book Report Curiosity is a book about a young, eight year old boy named Rufus who loves playing chess. This story took place in the year 1835 in Philadelphia. Rufus was a very rich, and well fed child before his father got sent to prison for outstanding debts. In this time in history, people could be released early from prison for good behavior. The only exception was your debt must be paid. Rufus’ father needed to pay his dues to be released. The prisoners also had to provide their own food. All that was provided was old bread and 2 ragged blankets. Anything else (such as a pillow or a bed, etc) would have to be brought to you. After his father got arrested, Rufus’ life just changed completely. He put his amazing chess techniques to use to attempt to pay his father’s debts. …show more content…

Rufus attempts to steal it but gets caught by an officer patrolling the street, and gets sent to the House of Refuge. In the 1800’s theft was one of the most common crimes that were committed. Pickpocketing was much more likely to happen back then than it is to happen now. Punishment for stealing included hanging or many years in prison, depending on if it was your first offense. Rufus got sent to the House of Refuge, which in today's time means youth detention center. Rufus then became a juvenile delinquent, which is a younger person who commits criminal acts. Some may think that, it would be crazy to send an eight year old to the youth detention center for what feels like (to me) a minor crime. But it is a fact that up until 1872, courts treated kids 7 and up like adults; they could be arrested, convicted, and tried. If they were convicted then they would receive and serve a prison sentence just like any adult would. I believe that this book in many ways could have been a true story of a young boy going through hard times in the

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