Parents need to know this book deals with heavy issues: a parent's death, addiction, depression, gang rape, and recovery. A description of a car wreck is particularly graphic and various drugs are abused, bought, and sold by teens.
Positive messages:Teen characters in this book use drugs, drink, cut class, and steal. A teen girl is bulimic. Adults are shown out of control with anger and drunkenness. There are drug dealers and crimes committed. However, most bad behavior has appropriate consequences. There are models of love and support in the form of family.
Violence:A mother and daughter are in a horrific car accident, it is described, including the severe injuries sustained. A father hurts his daughter, she remembers him shaking her when he was angry. A girl is gang raped after a drug and alcohol-fueled party. A girl is intimidated by several older teens and is fearful of retaliation for reporting a crime. A group of young men fight, blood splatter is described.
Sex:Teenagers are sexually active and there is sexual innuendo. A high school boy has a young son.
this book is a very good book i had just picked it for a project and i would like to say that this book is good for kids who have abused drugs to take away pain or someone that has lost a parent and has issues or withdraws from drugs. This book also has alot to do with drugs and violence and sexually content. I had seen my dad uzse drugs and i never had done anything because i have seen my dad go threw it and this book has supported me in so many ways
It was greta and contained a great message.
For some younger teens it may not be apprpiate but the majority are reading much worse stuff and are mature enough to get the lesson out of this book. And compared to what we see everyday it was not grapic at all. Plus at any regular high school there are drugs and drinking, not that every kid is involved but they know all about it. Plus the majority off book swe read contain worse things about love and stuff and very bad messages. this is from a teenagers point of view by the way. This book had a intense topic but the rest was less than normal. No one gets what we get faced with evry day sooo. And it was an incrdibly well written book.
I really liked it and it shows kids and teens what really can go on in the world. Although you dont want to expose your kids to some of the things in this book such as alcohol, sex, violence, rape, and gangs, being exposed to these things can help teens know to stay away from people like this. It also shows them the negative consequences that came out of the situation.