Fans of Jay Bennett and S.E. Hinton will enjoy Once Brothers, award-winning author P.D. Workman's poignant and powerful account of three urban teens struggling to find a place to belong inside and outside youth gangs. Their uncompromising, interconnecting stories of poverty, violence, and addiction will remind readers of all ages to cherish their families and friendships.

Jacob, fifteen and a loner, never thought he'd get mixed up with a gang.

Deke, older now, had sought the gang out for protection when he had no family of his own to rely upon.

And Sammy, only ten, pressed into service as a gang courier, is terrified of where his job with the gang will lead.

Three boys, each brothers, their lives all converging. Can they survive within their gangs? Without them?

By the author of Ruby, Between the Cracks, a winner of the Top Ten Best Books for Teens 2015 award, this raw and heartbreaking story of abuse, loneliness, and hope will challenge you to look at your life in a different light.

Praise for Once Brothers

An easy-to-read portrait of urban gang life and the tough and trying bonds between family, friends, and brothers in arms.

Courage and strength tested to the core of life and death in this exhilarating story of three remarkable boys.

Praise for P.D. Workman

"Every single one of [P.D. Workman's] books has spoken to me in ways no one or almost anything else has. And I have found strength in the books I've read."

"The way that P.D. Workman writes just flows amazingly and allows the reader to get really invested in a book."