Unchained

Series Name: Gravel Road®

After two years in a loving home, TJ's mother got him back. She was clean. No pot. No meth. His chest felt like it was burning. His heart was racing. Trapped. He felt trapped. He didn't have a say. Everything he had come to care about would be gone: Miss Dixie, hot meals, friends, Mae's little hand, and Annabelle. And the brutal life he'd escaped quickly reclaimed him. Kaden Cruz didn't run after him. Instead his voice boomed, "You owe us." TJ didn't look back. But he knew this wasn't the end of Kaden Cruz. He could still hear his father's voice. "It's not free. You'll have to pay them back one day."

Unchained is a silver medal award winner for Multicultural Teen Fiction by the Independent Publishers Book Awards, as well as a Finalist in the 2012 USA Best Book Awards in the category of young adult fiction.

Edgy, contemporary young adult fiction with realistic characters and stories. Storylines include mature and complicated situations including foster care, suicide, bullying, sexual identity and more. For some teens this is the reality they live with each day. And they find a way to survive. Books are 116 to 124 pages.

ISBN: 9781616517922
Format: Paperback
Grade Level: YA
Approximate Grade-Level Equivalent for Series: 1.6 to 3.5
Lexile Level: HL400L

Key Words/ Themes: Realistic Fiction, Drug Use, Foster Care, Gangs, Teen, Young Adult, Chapter Book, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books