Drugs
Although some are fiction and some are true stories, all of these teen books get up close and personal and show the effect drugs can have on teenagers’ lives.
 Crank – Ellen HopkinsKristina was the perfect daughter until she began using crystal meth. Now her sexy, party girl alter-ego Bree has taken over, and “the monster” rules her life. |
 Go Ask Alice – AnonymousA fifteen-year-old drug user chronicles her daily struggle to escape the pull of the drug world. |
 Smack – Melvin BurgessAfter running away from their troubled homes, two English teenagers move in with a group of squatters and try to find ways to support their growing addiction to heroin. |
 Dope Sick – Walter Dean MyersSeeing no way out of his difficult life in Harlem, seventeen-year-old Jeremy “Lil J” Dance flees into a house after a drug deal goes awry and meets a strange man who shows different turning points in Lil J’s life when he could have made better choices. |
 Street Pharm – Allison van DiepenTy knows survival. Since inheriting his pop’s drug-dealing business at sixteen, Ty’s developed smarts, skills, and mad discipline. But with just one slip, life turns ugly fast… |
 Hole in My Life—Jack GantosAs a young adult Jack Gantos became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer. |
 Candy —Kevin BrooksJoe’s life is boring. Then he meets Candy. She is 16, beautiful, addicted to heroin, and a prostitute. She’s also the only girl ever to look at him twice, and Joe wants to free her from her terrible life. Will he get through? |
 Beautiful—Amy Lynn ReedHaunted by serious problems in her recent past, thirteen-year-old Cassie makes a fresh start at a Seattle school but is drawn by dangerous new friends into a world of sex, drugs, and violence, while her parents remain oblivious. |
 Tweak – Nic SheffThe author describes his childhood in California, his addiction to crystal meth and heroin at a young age, his relapse after 18 months of sobriety, and his path to recovery. |
 God of Beer – Garret KeizerKyle and his friends, “Quaker” Oats and Diana form a social protest against drinking. During a party, newcomer Condor gets drunk and Diana, sober, is killed while driving him home. |
