The Death of Jayson Porter by Jaime Adoff
259 pages; 2008

Sixteen-year-old Jayson Porter wants to believe things will get better. But the harsh realities of his life never seem to change. Living in the inland-Florida projects with his abusive mother, he tries unsuccessfully to fit in at his predominately white school, while struggling to maintain even a thread of a relationship with his drug-addicted father. As the pressure mounts, there¹s only one thing Jayson feels he has control over -- the choice of whether to live or die. ~ Publisher's Description