Child Poverty

Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom’s boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (a.k.a Thrice B), have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self- proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber’s optimism - and her way of life - can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope?

Jonathan Kozol's books have become touchstones of the American conscience. Unlike his previous books, however, Ordinary Resurrections is almost entirely narrative and takes us into the fascinating details of daily life as he has lived it with young children who befriended him over the course of several years. Like Amazing Grace, this book describes the children of New York's South Bronx, but it is a markedly different book in mood and vantage point.

A Spillworthy is an idea so good, it has to be shared and ten-year-old Ulysses Finch doesn't let being homeless get in his way. He scrawls his best thoughts on pizza boxes, releases them into the wild, and relishes every response. After moving to Idaho, Ulysses finds Gem Rost's journal and dives into reading it. She must be a kindred spirit! Or is she?

When it happened Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge only gave him a year in a group home - said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. The judge had no idea that he'd actually done Miguel a favor. Ever since it happened Miguel’s mom can't even look him in the eye. Any home besides his would be a better place to live. But Miguel didn’t bet on meeting Rondell or Mong or on any of what happened after they broke out. He only thought about Mexico and getting across the border to where he could start over....

Travis’s Tacey’s mother has had an accident, a bad one, and the family is falling apart. His father, lost in a haze of grief, has focused his anger and guilt on his oldest son. Which is why, at age 14, Travis finds himself out of a home and on the road in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains. With no more than a few dollars, a change of clothes, and his great-great-great grandfather’s guitar, Travis wonders how he is going to survive.

When Georgie Kendrick wakes up after a heart transplant she feels...different. The organ beating in her chest isn't in tune with the rest of her body. Like it still belongs to someone else. Someone with terrible memories...memories that are slowly replacing her own. Georgie discovers her heart belonged to a teenage girl who lived a rough life on the streets. Everyone thinks she committed suicide, but only Georgie knows the truth. And now Georgie has to catch a killer--before she loses herself completely.

Coming of Age in the Other America shows that despite overwhelming odds, some disadvantaged urban youth do achieve upward mobility. Drawing from 10 years of fieldwork with parents and children who resided in Baltimore public housing, sociologists Stefanie DeLuca, Susan Clampet-Lundquist, and Kathryn Edin highlight the remarkable resiliency of some of the youth who hailed from the nation's poorest neighborhoods and show how the right public policies might help break the cycle of disadvantage.

A vital call to disrupt systemic forces that impoverish families and to reimagine accessible higher education, empowering parents to thrive in college and at home From the former teen mom and award-winning founder of Generation Hope, a nonprofit committed to expanding education access for young...

A fascinating look at the evolution of behavioral science, the revolutionary way it's changing the way we live, and how nurturing environments can increase people's well-being in virtually every aspect of our society, from early childhood education to corporate practices. If you want to know how you can help create a better world, listen to this book.

Fifth grade can be tough for anyone. There are cliques and mean kids and homework and surprise math tests. But after tragedy strikes her family, almost-eleven-year-old Maya has a painful secret that makes many days feel nearly impossible.

Cinderella is the heroine of a traditional fairytale based on the theme of unfair oppression followed by a triumphal redemption. The tale, originating from China, has been told in hundreds of different versions all over the world and is part of the cultural inheritance of many peoples...

Fifteen-year-old Pearl DeWitt and her mother live in Fallbrook, California, where its sunny 340 days of the year, and where her uncle owns a grove of 900 avocado trees. Uncle Hoyt hires migrant workers regularly, but Pearl doesnt pay much attention to them...until Amiel. From the moment she sees him, Pearl is drawn to this boy who keeps to himself, fears being caught by la migra, and is mysteriously unable to talk.

One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvelous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny, silver donkey.

It's the year 1910 in Pownal, Vermont. At 12, Grace and her best friend, Arthur, must leave school and go to work on the looms in the mill. Together they write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in their town, and a few weeks later a man with a camera shows up. It is the famous reformer Lewis Hine, undercover, collecting evidence for the Child Labor Board.

Twelve-year-old Olivia Hales has a foolproof plan for winning a million dollars so that she and her little sister, Berkeley, can leave behind Sunny Pines Trailer Park. But first she has to: Fix the swamp cooler and make dinner and put Berkeley to bed because her mom is too busy to do all that. Write another letter to her dad even though he hasn't written back yet. Teach Berk the important stuff, like how to make chalk drawings, because they can't afford day care and Olivia has to stay home from school to watch her.

Abby doesn’t remember what happened the night she woke up in soot-stained clothes, lying next to a burning building with an unfamiliar boy at her side. But her connection with Sam is immediate and intense. And she has no one else: no family, no home, not even a last name. She and Sam start a new life, just the two of them, and Abby’s deliriously happy - until memories from her past begin to haunt her. And suddenly everything she’s learned to love turns sinister....

In this powerful and culminating work about a group of inner-city children he has known for many years, Jonathan Kozol returns to the scene of his prize-winning books Rachel and Her Children and Amazing Grace, and to the children he has vividly portrayed, to share with us their fascinating journeys and unexpected victories as they grow into adulthood. For nearly 50 years Jonathan has pricked the conscience of his readers by laying bare the savage inequalities inflicted upon children for no reason but the accident of being born to poverty within a wealthy nation.

Pen's life is about secrets: the secret of the city's spirits, deities and monsters, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of Pen's intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly; and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror.

'Your Robin Hood thing. Let's do it for the Novel Project,' says Angie. 'Tell everyone?' I shrieked. 'Are you crazy?' Kelly thinks it's all over - her crazy effort to feed the poor. At first it seemed so right, but it became an obsession. And it made her do something so terrible her parents never spoke about it afterwards. Now her best friend is about to start the nightmare all over again...

June Peters, You Will Change the World One Day aims to encourage young children by teaching them the value of giving back to others. Through this book, children will learn that at any age, they can make a difference in the world around them. June is a natural-born giver, always putting the needs of others before her own. This book is thought provoking and exciting. Parents and children will both enjoy it.