Difficult Family

Mellie has always been the reliable friend, the good student, the doting daughter. But when an unspeakable act leads her to withdraw from everyone she loves, she is faced with a life-altering choice - a choice she must face alone. Lise stands up - and speaks out - for what she believes in. And when she notices Mellie acting strangely, she gets caught up in trying to save her…all while trying to protect her own secret. One that might be the key to helping Mellie.

Nur knapp ist Mara einem Bombenattentat in der U-Bahn entgangen. Ihre Mitschüler nennen sie seither "Das Mädchen, das überlebt hat" und erwarten Betroffenheit von ihr. Aber Mara hat ganz andere Sorgen. Ihre Freundin Sirîn meldet sich immer seltener und scheint plötzlich komplett unerreichbar. Je mehr Mara ihr zu helfen versucht, desto mehr Unverständnis und Ablehnung erntet sie. Was verheimlichen alle vor ihr? Erst als sich ihr Schwarm Chriso in die Suche einschaltet, kommt die erschütternde Wahrheit ans Licht.

Sixteen-year-old Virginia Shreves' life is finally back on course: She's accepted who she is inside and out and is rebuilding her relationship with brother Byron, whose date-rape charge shattered everything. But just as she adjusts to her new normal, her world turns upside down again. Sparks with boyfriend Froggy fade, her best friend bombshells bad news, and then the police arrest Byron.

This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full-time insomniac, and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in.

High-school junior Jordan MacKenzie’s life was pretty typical: fractured family, new boyfriends, dead-end job. She’d been living with her father (the predictable optometrist) since her mother (the hippie holdover) had become too embarrassing to be around. Jordan felt that she finally had as normal a life as she could. Then came Gayle D’Angelo. Jordan knew her father was dating Gayle and that Gayle was married.

Popular author Sarah Dooley offers this tale in which a 12-year-old girl loses everything. Ember’s family’s trailer has been burned to the ground. Now, with the school year about to start, Ember’s family has no money and no place to live. Ember knows she needs to make a fresh start - but with all that’s happened, is this even possible?

Kinsley Johnson seems to have everything going well in her world. She’s starting her junior year, her best friend is by her side, and the new boy happens to be really cute and is paying attention to her. So why isn’t Kinsley happy? With an English teacher who knows more than just literature, a youth leader who won’t give up on her, and a brush against a dangerous addiction, Kinsley has to decide if there is anything out there that can anchor her. If she could just find it, maybe her soul could catch somewhere and rest.

Raven is a deeply disturbed teenager, who, after witnessing the death of his mother, is placed in foster care. The Russells do their best to earn his trust, but only little Ella manages to get through to him. Meanwhile, at school, bullies are making his life a living hell. An unexpected companion comes in the form of Lotte, a classmate bored by her "ordinary" friends. Together, they track down Raven's mum's killer, with the goal of exposing him to the police. But their carefully crafted plan goes dangerously wrong, and suddenly nothing is as it seems.

In his final year at the Royal College of Music, star pianist Flynn Laukonen has the world at his feet. He has moved in with his girlfriend, Jennah, and is already getting concert bookings for what promises to be a glittering career. Yet he knows he is skating on thin ice—only two small pills a day keep him from plunging back into the whirlpool of manic depression that once threatened to destroy him.

Raised by a mother who turned to drugs to relieve past pain, Valencia had to grow up fast. Being welcomed by gangs, being shunned by her family, and finding motherhood early should have sealed Valencia's fate, at least according to all the statistics. Open, honest, and often raw, Motherless Child exposes a falsehood far too many of us have been led to believe - that those raised in addiction will fall victim themselves. Instead, she found an inner strength born of determination, resolve, and forgiveness.

Der 15-jährige Daniel ist vor allem eins: wütend. Sein Vater ist weg, seine Mutter schleppt einen Liebhaber nach dem anderen an. Doc, ihr neuester Freund, ist der Mann, der Daniels Hund eingeschläfert hat. Trotzdem gewinnt Daniel ihn lieb. Bis zu einem tödlichen Unfall nach einer Party, durch den Daniel ein schrecklicher Verdacht kommt. Kann er seinen Erinnerungen an diese Nacht glauben? Oder spiegeln sie nur wider, was er gerne glauben würde?

In the fall of 1962, Belle Teal Harper arrives for her first day of fifth grade to find parents protesting the law that says Negro children can now attend school with whites. Most of her classmates don’t even want to sit near Darryl, the shy new black boy in her class. But as Belle Teal gradually gets to know him, she can’t understand what all the fuss is about. Belle Teal is a 2002 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2001.

Madison Stanton doesn't know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this - she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can reexperience - and sometimes even change - moments from her life.

Willa is lucky: She has a loving blended family that gets along. Not all families are so fortunate. But when a bloody crime takes place hundreds of miles away, it has an explosive effect on Willa's peaceful life. The estranged father she hardly remembers has murdered his new wife and children, and is headed east toward Willa and her mother. Under police protection, Willa discovers that her mother has harbored secrets that are threatening to boil over. Has everything Willa believed about herself been a lie?

Queen Bee Chloe is going to make Toni suffer for whatever transpired between Toni and Chloe's boyfriend, Oliver, over the summer. From day one of eleventh grade, she has Toni branded as a super slut, and it isn't long before things get so ugly that Toni fears for her safety. What's a scared, powerless, and fed-up teenager to do? Guided by Cassandra - a girl with some serious problems of her own - Toni decides to stop playing the victim and take control.

Jumping double-dutch is 12-year-old Tiffany’s favorite pastime. She’s the most talented jumper at her school, incorporating flips and stunts into her routine. Then suddenly, her demeanor changes and she stops jumping rope altogether. Her mother, who wasn’t thrilled about Tiffany’s obsession in the first place, easily accepts her excuse that she’s just not feeling well. Tiffany’s 16-year-old brother Levar, however, becomes suspicious there is more to the story when he catches her burning her clothes in a dumpster.

Worry and dessert. Always on the menu at Hazard Middle School. Rourke is hoping for a perfect seventh grade year. Or at least one where his gut isn’t twisted in worry. But with crazy neighbors, a mysterious girl he has a crush on, and an unpredictable brother, what’s the chance of that? Especially when tragedy strikes.

The summer of 1976 should have been the best of times for nature-loving Eli Book, but instead it is filled with terrible changes. His sister begins to hate her country. His beautiful but distant mother is caught between his traumatized Vietnam War vet father and his former antiwar protester aunt, who has come to live with them. And the only person with whom he can be himself, his best friend, Edie, begins to turn inward when her parents split up. Watching from the sidelines while his world falls apart, Eli must take his first courageous steps toward truth-telling and adulthood.

What do you do with your last day on Earth? There are 27 hours and 15 minutes left until a meteor strikes North America, and for Emerson and everyone else who didn't leave, the world will end. But Emerson's world already ended when she ran away from home last year. Since then she has lived on the streets, relying on her wits and her friend, Vince, to help her find places to sleep and food to eat.

Past Present shows listeners how to change destructive relationship patterns by identifying the root issues from their pasts and finding the source of healing for their unique stories. No matter where we are in life, both our greatest joys and our deepest heartaches are linked to the people in...