Showing titles in Homelessness, Runaways & Poverty

Katrell can talk to the dead. And she wishes it made more money. She’s been able to support her unemployed mother - and Mom’s deadbeat-boyfriend-of-the-week - so far, but it isn’t enough. Money’s still tight, and to complicate things, Katrell has started to draw attention. Not from this world - from beyond. And it comes with a warning: Stop, or there will be consequences.

Fourteen-year-old Jamie, aka “Punkzilla,” is on a mission: to see his older brother, Peter (“P”), before P dies of cancer. Hopping a bus while still buzzing from his last hit of meth, Jamie embarks on a days-long bus trip from Portland, Oregon, to Memphis, Tennessee, writing letters to his family and friends - letters so honest he may never send them.

Lorrie Hollander used to be a rich girl, but now she's lost everything because of the secrets and lies of the people around her. It's been 12 years since Lorrie's mother skipped town and left Lorrie in the care of her unstable aunt Gigi. Together they live in a neglected, decrepit mansion called Edgewater, the eyesore in a town of extraordinary wealth and privilege. When Charlie, the son of an esteemed senator, takes an interest in Lorrie, her shame for her family and lifestyle runs deep.

Gem has never known what it is to have security. She's never known an adult she can truly rely on. But the one constant in her life has been Dixie. Gem grew up taking care of her sister when no one else could: not their mother, whose issues make it hard for her to keep food on the table, and definitely not their father, whose intermittent presence is the only thing worse than his frequent absence.

Working as a Wench - i.e. waitress - at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a Knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood. Company policy allows only guys to be Knights. So when Kit takes her brother’s place, clobbers the Green Knight, and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But this Girl Knight won’t go down without a fight.

Running away from her past, Elisa finds herself homeless in Hawaii. The streets aren't what they seem, though—even in paradise—and cops make her stay in a "homeless park." She's only 17 and with a man she hardly knows, but they must learn to work together if they expect to survive as street musicians.

Lei è una ragazza forte che non si arrende agli ostacoli. E' un viaggio nel viaggio, che inizia quando pensa che se non fugge da un destino scritto da altri, la libertà è perduta; un viaggio dentro se stessa e fisico verso esperienze e posti incredibili. Tutto parte da una crisi interiore e da una dura critica alla società occidentale, per arrivare a conoscere la libertà, i sentimenti più nascosti, ritrovare un percorso, e in un abbraccio con culture lontane, creare ponti percorribili da tutti.

Jacob, a bright 10-year-old African American boy with exceptional writing ability, seems to have a promising academic future ahead of him. But living on the south-side of Chicago, life at home is nothing but. He is living in a drug-infested community with a residence overrun with roaches that should be condemned. With an addict for a mother, who’s in a self-induced comatose state most of the time, he’s not in a situation that he can easily test out of.

School is out for the summer, but not for 18-year-old Michael and 17-year-old Shelly. The pair of them meet while serving court-ordered community service, and both are driven by secrets and lies.

A propulsive social justice adventure by renowned activist and award-winning documentarian Ruchira Gupta, I Kick and I Fly is an inspiring, hopeful story of triumph about a girl in Bihar, India, who escapes being sold into the sex trade when a local hostel owner helps her to understand the value of her body through kung fu. On the outskirts of the Red Light District in Bihar, India, fourteen-year-old Heera is living on borrowed time until her father sells her into the sex trade to help feed their family and repay his loans.

Anya Anderson doesn't just need a big break, she needs any break. Living on the streets doesn't leave a girl many options, so when she scores a gig reporting on the Seconds to Juliet tour, she jumps at the chance to earn enough money to sleep somewhere safe. And the paycheck will get bigger—and keep her off the streets for good—if she can dig up dirt on Will Fray, the irritatingly hot "shy guy" of the band.

On a night of wild storms, two troubled figures escape from captivity. One is a 15-year-old boy, Samuel Miles, a.k.a. "Smiler", wrongly convicted of theft and sent to a young offenders institution. The other is a cheetah, Yarra, a restless resident of Longleat Wildlife Park. Both are in danger from the outside world—and each other—but somehow their lives become inextricably bound up as they fight for survival on the edge of Salisbury Plain.

From Joya Goffney of Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry comes a stirring YA coming-of-age, best-friends-to-lovers romance about a girl named Nikki who plans to run away from small-town Texas but ultimately finds that her oldest friend, Mal, just might be the one who’s been there for her all along. Filled with heart and humor, this novel captures complex family drama, friendship, and love. For fans of I Wanna Be Where You Are by Kristina Forest and Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan.

Josh's father has gone missing without a trace, and Gran's ready to call social services. If Josh wants to keep himself and and his little brother, Twig, out of the system, he'll have to take to the streets and track down his dad. But when Josh digs too deep, his dad's old accomplices catch up to Josh and plunge him into a dangerous underground where putting his trust in the wrong person could number Josh in a growing pile of bodies.

Evie was pregnant and forced to give up the baby. But she can't just leave the child with strangers, especially when she thinks the baby is being neglected. With her boyfriend waiting in the truck, Evie snatches the baby and convinces him to drive her to Montreal where she plans to start a new life with her child. But when the baby won't eat and she and Justin argue, she ends up alone in a small town. As the baby becomes sicker, Evie must decide whether to admit her mistake and turn herself in, or to keep running.

After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her dreams of a college scholarship and pro basketball career vanish in an instant. To avoid becoming another Black teen trapped in her poverty-stricken neighborhood, she shifts her focus to the school's STEM team. Academics have never been her thing, but Alexis is motivated by Aamani Chakrabarti, the new Indian student who becomes her friend (and crush?). Alexis begins to see herself as so much more than an athlete. But as her future starts to reform, Alexis's own doubts and old loyalties pull her back into harm's way.

In the seaside town of Nautilus, Minerva Gutiérrez absolutely hates her job at the local ice cream stand, where her sexist boss makes each day worse than the last. But she needs the money: kicked out of school and stranded by her mom's most recent hospitalization, she dreams of escaping her dead-end hometown. When an armed robbery at the ice cream stand stirs up rumors about money hidden on the property, Min teams up with her neighbor CeCe, also desperate for cash, to find it. The bonus? Getting revenge on her boss in the process.

From a complicated Haitian life to heart surgery, to homelessness, Cynthia Josaphat’s struggles to survive her new life in the United States seem endless. After she’s taken from the only home she’s ever known by a domineering yet distant father, Cynthia’s life takes a sudden turn toward despair. Away from her mother for the first time, the Haitian teenager resolves to make the best of a difficult transition to America. Life in Haiti wasn’t perfect, but it was the only life she knew. Now, suddenly uprooted, Cynthia’s troubles have only just begun.

This is the story of Eddy Sky, a teenage misanthrope who firmly believes that the rules of society should not apply to him, nor to any truly free individual. Disillusioned by his upper-class family, his small-town Australia surroundings, and the modern world in general, he leaves for the city, determined to make his own way and leave his own mark.

Healing is a hanging offense, and Ena is done risking her neck to watch her patients die. Fleeing a future of blood and death, Ena braves the dark unknown. Life taught her the cruelty of the world. But she never imagined the dangers of her journey. As evil surrounds her, Ena is threatened with a fate worse than the one she escaped. Legends and dark magic stand between her and the future she dreams of. A future that will cost more than pain. When innocent lives depend on her mercy, Ena must face an enemy with the power to set the sky on fire.