Forged by Fire

Sharon M. Draper's book Forged by Fire belongs to a series of books that involve high school issues. This is a wonderful book for teens, but anybody can enjoy it. I personally liked this book because it really explains the main character, Gerald, and his life.

A smart, athletic teen has lived with his aunt for around five years. Gerald lives with his aunt because his birth mother was substance-addicted and did not take the best care of him as a baby. She let him alone at home and he almost died in a fire, I think that's a good enough reason to take a two year old away from his mother. When his loving aunt dies when he is nine, he goes back to live with his mother and her new, child abusing husband, Jordan. Gerald also discovers that he has a sister, whom he grows to love with a passion. On top of all these devastating occurrences, Gerald's best friend dies in a car accident. Will Gerald's mother change her destructive ways and get rid of Jordan, or will she stick to Jordan's rude and cruel ways and grow further away from her children?


Gerald is a brilliant, hard working, adolescent, devoted child. Not only does he take care of himself as a child, but also his younger sister, Angel. Although her former father Jordan once molested her, Angel is everything that a big brother could ask for. She is an extraordinary dancer, a wonderful companion, and she takes pride in her housework. Jordan, on the other hand, is a lackadaisical, non-caring fake. He can't fool Gerald and Angel with his slick little ways of trying to provoke them. Candy, the mother, is basically a drug addict who is conjoined with Jordan for some unexplainable reason. If you search deep inside of Candy, there is hope that some motivation will trigger her to leave Jordan, and become an extremely successful mother like she has the potential to become.

Forged by Fire is a tremendous novel for all readers, although I would firmly recommend this story for the young adults of our society. I don't think that much could be changed in this book. A lot of teens could compare their own life to the life of Jordan's. Basically, overall, this is an excellent book.