Orphans Home

Ty Lewis is ecstatic when the school coach recruits him for the football team. Unfortunately, Ty's Uncle Gus has other plans for him - namely, scrubbing toilets for Gus's cleaning service. Ty's only relief from his oppressive uncle comes in the too-rare times he can spend with his big brother, Thane, a college football star who's headed for the NFL. But when Uncle Gus gets involved with the local mob boss, a man called "Lucy", and Lucy finds out how famous Thane is, things begin to spiral out of control.

After losing their parents to the AIDS pandemic in southern Africa, Sipho and his fellow orphans cannot start school. Without an education, their prospects of escaping poverty are slim. Enter Aiyasha, the fifteen-year-old head of the orphan household. Aiyash uses her special talent to ensure her orphan charges receive the education they crave. But Aiyasha has a wider agenda: to promote social justice in her country where orphans will no longer have the “dumb” label attached to them. Features of Oliver Twist, Robin Hood and Dick Whittington and His Cat play out in a contemporary African setting in this heartwarming and inspirational story.

Poppy, Dash, Azumi, and Dylan may have made it out of Shadow House - but the grounds are a whole new nightmare. Someone they thought was a friend is hunting them, and there's no place that's safe now that they've woken the shadow creature. If they want to survive, they'll have to figure out once and for all what the house wants from them, and what - or who - they'll need to leave behind in order to escape...or risk being trapped within Shadow House forever.

In 1860, life in New York City’s slums is hard and dangerous. For a widow with six children, it is impossible. So when Mrs. Kelly learns of the Children’s Aid Society, she sees a way to provide for her children. They will be sent west on an “orphan train” to families eager for help on their farms. Thirteen-year-old Mary Frances is confused and angry. How could a mother send her children away? At her new home in Missouri, however, Mary Frances is surprised to discover that the kind family provides a refuge on the Underground Railroad.

When you're a pinball, life is a risky game, especially for three adolescent children placed in a foster home. Their hard-won defenses are firmly in place as these three uneasy strangers meet their foster parents. For each of these children who were failed by their families, caring for others is so scary it hurts. No one has been in control. But as their daily lives become dotted with fried chicken dinners, puppies, and birthdays, they begin to hope that even pinballs can be winners.

Christmas Eve. While the rest of London is celebrating, Private Investigator Ryan Kyd is drowning his sorrows in his local pub. On his way back to the office to crash out on the sofa, he sees a woman being mugged in the street. Her handbag has been stolen - and it contains a priceless necklace that she has borrowed from the auction house where she works. If she can’t get it back she faces not only losing her job, but a jail sentence as well. Gallantly, Ryan Kyd comes to her rescue.

A dangerous secret. A deadly skill. Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker - with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers, Nya's skill is flawed: she can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden. If discovered, she could be used as a human weapon.

Orphan Annie, from the musical Annie, has a hard-knock life. FACT! So when Lily D trains for the role of Orphan Annie, she insists on doing everything for herself. She makes a pillowcase dress, trades her favorite glittery pencil, does REALLY hard chores and sleeps out in her tent. But will all her efforts to walk in Orphan Annie's shoes really help Lily D to understand what it is like to be all alone in the world, with only hope to hold onto?

Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent a harrowing nine years of her life in 14 different foster homes. Her memoir, Three Little Words, captivated audiences everywhere and went on to become a New York Times best seller. Now Ashley reveals the nuances of life after foster care: college and its assorted hijinks, including meeting "the one". Marriage, which began with a beautiful wedding on a boat that was almost hijacked (literally) by some biological family members.

A brilliant puzzle of a book from the author of Chime and The Folk Keeper plunges us into the vulnerable psyche of one of the most memorable unreliable narrators in decades. The Robber Girl has a good dagger. Its voice in her head is as sharp as its two edges that taper down to a point. Today, the Robber Girl and her dagger will ride with Gentleman Jack into the Indigo Heart to claim the gold that’s rightfully his. But instead of gold, the Robber Girl finds a dollhouse cottage with doorknobs the size of apple seeds.

When Olivia Williams and her two younger brothers awake from a car crash, they're positive their world has changed. The talking horse is a big clue. And he has a lot to say. According to Thunder, fairies, magic, and good ol' St. Nick are all for real - on some level. Which would be incredibly awesome, but there's a problem: A rift has formed between the layers of existence, and evil Sliders are taking advantage of it - bringing violence, fear, and hatred with them.

Using practical, firsthand stories that offer helpful, portable takeaways, Pastor Boyd looks at the interweaving of his journey from spiritual orphan to treasured son, offering candid stories and freeing insights for every Christian still longing to come home. The truth is, many of us as...

Acclaimed author Cynthia Lord received the Newbery Honor for her debut novel Rules, which School Library Journal. called “a lovely, warm read.” In Touch Blue, Lord pens a moving tale about the meaning of home. Tess is heartbroken when she learns the state of Maine is about to shut down her small island’s schoolhouse, forcing her family to move to the mainland.

Living in foster homes for the last six years, David now has trouble making friends and keeping up in school. More than anything in the world, he just wants something to call his own. He thinks he's found that something when he hatches an owl named King Arthur with the help of his "girl genius" friend, Mab. But when it looks like King Arthur must be set free, David learns a powerful lesson. The real "good stuff" in life isn't something he can own.

Dominic Cantori is an orphan. Ashamed of his situation, Dominic avoids making friends for fear of exposing his terrible secret. One day on a class trip to Ellis Island, a tour guide asks everyone about their families. Immediately, Dominic flees from the class and hides in a closet, where he falls asleep for hours.

Francis Joseph Cassavant is eighteen. He has just returned home from the Second World War, and he has no face. He does have a gun and a mission: to murder his childhood hero. Francis lost most of his face when he fell on a grenade in France. He received the Silver Star for bravery, but was it really an act of heroism? Now, having survived, he is looking for a man he once admired and respected, a man adored by many people, a man who also received a Silver Star for bravery. A man who destroyed Francis's life.

No matter how broken our past or great our misfortunes, we can create a new beginning and build a life of love and kindness. Taken from his mother at age three, Steve Klakowicz lives in the clutches of a cruel foster family. He finds his only refuge in a box of books given to him by a kind...

Christmas is coming to Camden Falls, and Flora and Ruby don't know how to feel about it. It's their first Christmas without their parents, and the memories are both happy and sad. Luckily, Flora and Ruby are surrounded by people who care about them - from their grandmother, Min, to their friends Olivia and Nikki, who are dealing with problems of their own. There's also an unexpected visitor: Flora and Ruby's aunt, whose big arrival promises to shake things up.

Whitney has been in so many foster homes that she can give a complete rundown on the most common varieties of foster parents - from the look-on-the-bright-side types to those unfortunate examples of pure evil. But one thing she doesn't know much about is trees. This means heading for Foster Home number 12 (which is all the way at the top of the map of California, where there looks to be nothing but trees) has Whitney feeling a little nervous. She is pretty sure that the middle of nowhere is going to be just one more place where a hyper, loud-mouthed kid who is messy and small for her age won't be welcome for long.

From one of Australia's most renowned children's authors comes an extraordinary story within a story - a mystery, a prophecy, a long-buried secret. And five people who will remember this night for the rest of their lives.