Drewski, trying to write

, Drewski.

The Pacific northwest is timber country, a wonderful place to write about talking trees.

I'll go out on a limb and wonder why a 14-year-old absolutely must drop the f-bomb--or a hundred-year-old tree for that matter. My guess is it wood have more words in its trunk.

But like Maryn, I'll leaf it to you.

Welcome to AW, Drewski!
I imagine you'll get plenty of advice if you post your question in the Writing For Kids thread. Good luck with your writing.

Drewski welcome to the cooler glad to have you here

That's a toughie...to me.
Many will question why someone that age needs to use that word...but I find it fairly true to form for many 14-yr-olds. I personally don't have a problem with the word...until it becomes every other word or is so gratuitous and unnecessary that it becomes irrelevant/ineffective. It's supposed to be a "shock bomb"...that's stupid when it's used too much.
MHO? Use it if you feel it's appropriate for your character, including if he's one of the aforementioned offenders (doesn't sound like that's what you intend) but include a language warning in your blurb, especially if you self-publish for kindle at Amazon. If you do that, no one has a right to hit you for bad language in a review (though that probably won't stop all).
I'd write it for the age group of your 14-yr-old. Readers generally like to identify with the protagonist. BTW, I'm over 60 and have read quite a few things intended for young audiences...and thoroughly enjoyed them, though I'm not generally into fantasy.
Good luck.

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Welcome!

Welcome. The way you've described your story makes it sound like middle grade, but the f-word is not allowed in middle grade. You can get away with it in young adult, but I'm not sure your story is young adult. 14 is that awkward main character age that falls in between the two.

Welcome