Author Ellen Hopkins doesn't apologize for the content in some of the books she's written.

She writes about drugs, sex, rape and abuse.On Wednesday during a visit to Panther Valley High School, she told the students, "I write as honestly as I can."She says it is honesty that attracts young people to her novels.Hopkins, of Nevada, added, "It's not always pretty, but I think it's important you realize this stuff happens."The author has written 12 novels, most of which have been on the best-seller list of the New York Times. Her 13th will be released in August.She spent four hours with students, conducting an assembly program, having lunch with honor students and hosting an informal session with about 30 students in the school library.The visit by Hopkins became controversial when a parent of a middle school student complained last month to the Panther Valley School Board that some of the material in Hopkins' books was not appropriate for middle school students.Addressing the controversy of her visit, Hopkins said, "I'm not sure where the fear of the truth comes from."Knowledge is what keeps you from making mistakes," she said.Joseph Gunnels, high school principal, said seventh- and eighth-graders were permitted to attend the talk only with signed permission slips from the respective students' parents.He said 28 middle school students attended.An undetermined number of students and teachers opted to not attend the assembly.Rosemary Porembo, superintendent of schools, said the assembly is to encourage students to pursue different vocations such as writing.Four school board members, Jeff Markovich, Michelle Markovich, John Williams, and Irene Genther, also attended the talk.Real peopleHopkins told the students that the characters in her books are based on real people.In the most controversial of the novels, "Crank," she writes about a young girl who is an A student and who attends church each week getting high on crystal meth.That girl was her daughter, she said.Hopkins spoke on the theme, "Glimpses of My Life," in which she told how she lived with wealth, but also lived in poverty.She was in a marriage in which her husband used crack, how she found a much better life with her second husband, and how meth destroyed her daughter.Hopkins said although she addresses realistic subjects that are controversial, she reads the Bible and makes subtle references to God in each of her books.Woven into the presentation were several poems that she read. Some of her novels are written with poetry.Cocaine and abuseThe story behind "Crank" "is very personal; a very real story that happened to my child," she said to the attentive students.After she got married, she got her only "actual job" in her life, working in a video store. By now she was also raising small children.She said she noticed the checkbook balance was always empty, so she questioned her husband. He admitted using cocaine."I gave him a choice family or cocaine," she said. "He chose cocaine."He then moved to Albuquerque without her or the children.Regarding the abuse mentioned in the book, "This is something I lived," Hopkins said.Hopkins said her husband didn't want anything to do with her or her daughter for more than 10 years, then he decided he wanted to be the girl's dad. A judge ordered visitation rights for the daughter to spend time with him in New Mexico.In Albuquerque, "She met someone who did crystal meth. She was a grade A student with a 150 IQ and not a kid anyone would expect to do this."Introduction to methShe said at the time she didn't know anything about crystal meth. She said meth made in labs is 60 percent pure while crystal meth is 90 percent pure.The author told the students about the dangers of meth and other drugs and how they can ruin your life, like they did her daughter's. "This is a drug where the effects don't go away," she said.When her daughter got pregnant, she chose drugs over her baby, said Hopkins, who adopted her grandson when he was age 4.Her daughter has fought addiction for 18 years and spent two years in prison as a result.She told students her daughter "was your age" when she began using meth."Middle School is where you start making these choices," Hopkins said.During her talk, one student mentioned how meth and other drugs are happening locally.One student approached Hopkins and said her father had been in prison, and her mother had used drugs.Hopkins said she wants people to think. "Ignorance is what gets young girls pregnant. Ignorance is what sends people into meth. Ignorance is never good," she told her audience.