Junk (novel)

Junk, known as Smack in the US, is a realistic novel for young adults, written by British author Melvin Burgess and published in 1996 by Andersen in the UK. Set on the streets of Bristol, England, it features two runaway teenagers who join a group of squatters, where they fall into heroin addiction and embrace anarchism. Both critically and commercially, it is the best received of Burgess' novels. Yet it was unusually controversial at first, criticised negatively for its 'how-to' aspect, or its dark realism, or its moral relativism.

Burgess won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's outstanding children's book by a British author. For the 70th anniversary of the Medal, in 2007, Junk was named one of the Top 10 winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. Junk also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a similar award that authors may not win twice; it is the latest of six books to win both awards.

In the US, Henry Holt published the novel in 1997 as Smack — another slang term for heroin.