A young girl faces her problems by writing down her thoughts about the family's personal and financial crises, including the loss of her father's job and the selling of their home.
Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica's annual homeless count, just to get her school's community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult -- because Red refuses to talk about her past. There are things Molly wo...
Waterstones Children's Book Prize-winning author New York Times #1 bestselling author The highly anticipated second novel from Angie Thomas returns to the world of Garden Heights for a powerful story about hip hop, freedom of speech - and fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you. Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But when her firs...
Explores parents in prison, extreme poverty, violence and young people, drug trafficking and police brutality. Fifteen-year-old Efraín and his two younger brothers live in a house on the hillside in Monterrey, Northern Mexico. They are left to fend for themselves after their mother is wrongly arrested for theft. Now it falls to Efraín to clear Má’s name and to look out for his younger brothers, too. Má has raised her boys to keep out of trouble with the local gangs and to study for their future,...
Would The Real Mr. Right Please Stand Up! (Diary of a Teenage Mom, #2)
by Aspen Faraway
In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.
Iggy Corso, who lives in city public housing, is caught physically and spiritually between good and bad when he is kicked out of high school, goes searching for his missing mother, and causes his friend to get involved with the same dangerous drug dealer who deals to his parents.
Pigman's Legacy (Lions Teen Tracks S.) (Red Fox young adult books)
by Paul Zindel
Haunted by the memory of a dead friend, two teenagers join an old man in a series of misadventures.
Pirates board a rusty boat carrying migrant children fleeing war and poverty in search of a new life across the sea. The children emerge from hiding in the hold to find their friends in the crew gone. They must assume the roles of grown-ups as a mighty storm brews. They do not know where they have come from or where they are going, although each has a moving story to tell and a dream of a better future. Binta takes the role of the captain she befriended, the old seadog Malek. Adji becomes the co...
Eighteen-year-old Kristina is determined to manage her crystal meth addiction in order to take care of her newborn son, but when the pull of the drug becomes too strong, her greatest fears are quickly realized.
"You can come back when you're done being gay." Jason is a 13-year-old who comes out to his religious and conservative mother, only to be cast out of their home. Homeless, he learns how to survive, eventually turning to hustling as a way to live.Doug is a 17-year-old with an abusive father and a chip on his shoulder. Energized and empowered by violence, he gets mixed up with a group of Neo-Nazis.The lives of these two flawed teens spiral towards each other, and one fateful night their paths cros...
To Find Your Future, You Have to Face Your Past She knows what her parents told her. Now she wants the truth. At sixteen, Morgan Lindstrum has the life that every other girl wants--at least from the outside. A privileged only child, she has everything she could ever want, except her parents' attention. A Princeton physicist and a high-powered executive, they barely have any time for each other, much less for Morgan. Then her beloved grandfather dies, depriving Morgan of the only stable...
Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope. It's a bag that will change everything. Soon Raphael and his friends Gardo and Rat are running for their lives. Wanted by the police, it takes all their quick-thinking, fast-talking to stay ahead. As the n...
Best friends Ray and Jose are not your typical teenagers. They've escaped foster care and juvenile detention centers to live on their own together in an abandoned stationhouse in New York City's Ten Mile River Park. Ray and Jose are as close as brothers. But then they meet Trini, the smart, beautiful, and confident girl from their local barber shop, and they both fall for her immediately. As tension creeps into their relationship, Ray must struggle to find an identity separate from Jose and try...
A YALSA 2020 Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers!"A powerful story about grief, loss, and the restorative nature of love, Since We Last Spoke will stay with you long after you've finished." -Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be and The Last to Let Go"Rufener handles topics such as love, loss, and grief with a deft and steady hand, intermingling moments of humor and warmth as two families learn to navigate the tragedy that's intertwined them forever." -Miranda Aseb...