I highly recommend you have your teens read A Test of Loyalty by Laurie Stewart." Gale S.
Isolation... you can feel alone in the most crowded places.
Change... it's the only thing you can count on.
Loyalty.... who deserves yours?
Told in first person, this is the story of three teenagers growing up in Mechanicsville, a bad neighbourhood in Canada's capital.
Surrounded by drugs, sexual assault, poverty, and peer pressure. Separated by race, religion, and distrust, they must learn to trust each other. When the unthinkable happens, what changes can they survive?
Ages 14+, this is a gritty look at Ottawa's youth. Book 1 in a series of novellas.
Warning: sexual situations, strong language, drug use