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These are the questions posed, and answered, in DIRTY. In page-turner, novelistic style, the book tracks the course of three very different kids in three very different programs:

Mike, a 17-year-old, white working-class crack user who begins his recovery in, then runs away from, a residential rehab, spends three months in Juvenile Hall, then returns to dealing and using crack.

Tristan, an affluent white 15-year-old pot, pill, and mushroom user and survivor of two stints at a "wilderness program," who's now enrolled in a Marin County "sober high school."

Zalika, a 16-year-old middle-class African American who was a prostitute and crack dealer until she agreed to enroll in a drug court and counseling program-from which she is now AWOL, hiding out from the law.

The book weaves together the three kids' stories, the author's own story of mothering her two teenage sons-one of whom was arrested nineteen times during his teenage years-and investigative reporting about the causes, prevalence, and "cures" for teenage drug addiction. For more information, see the publisher's website.

Meredith Maran is the best-selling author of Class Dismissed: A Year in the Life of an American High School, a Glimpse Into the Heart of a Nation. Her previous books include the memoirs What It's Like To Live Now and Notes From An Incomplete Revolution: Real Life Since Feminism, Ben & Jerry's Double Dip: How to Lead With Your Values and Make Money Too, and a children's book, How Would You Feel If Your Dad Was Gay? Meredith has written for publications including O-The Oprah Magazine, Vibe, Mademoiselle, Salon.com, Self, Teacher, Parenting, Utne Reader, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Jose Mercury-News.

The book is available at Amazon.com and in bookstores nationwide.