Sticks and Stones

After the rape, sixteen-year-old Peyton feels dirty. Lost. She could have fought harder. Screamed. Been more aggressive. Gotten him to stop. She knows Brad will get away with it. He’s gotten away with it before. The football team protects him. The school does too. It seems like everyone in town is on his side. Girls start to call her a skank. But Peyton is determined to get justice. Only she doesn’t know how. The dominoes begin to fall when the truth comes out. First to her best friend. Then to a pastor. Who leads her to a soft-spoken police detective …

From the Great Plains to the borderlands to the Mississippi Delta, rural America is struggling. The population is shrinking. And the economy is shifting away from agriculture. Without a safety net, rural families struggle with depression, drug abuse, alcoholism, and other problems. Gravel Road Rural addresses the contemporary issues affecting rural America in an unflinching way.

Hard-hitting, contemporary young adult fiction is not trendy—it’s not dystopia. There are no vampires, no werewolves, no castles. It’s real life. It’s unflinching. Gravel Road highlights the talent of YA authors committed to creating realistic fiction with emotional authenticity. No topic is off-limits: suicide, homosexuality drugs, rape, gangs, bullying. Teens live with this reality each day. And they find a way to survive.