Homelessness, Runaways & Poverty

What was once the Western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, 15-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles....

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill....

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night - dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows her. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q - until day breaks and she has vanished....

Holly Black follows her breakout debut, Tithe, with a rich, harrowing, and compulsively readable parable of betrayal, abuse, friendship, and love....

Thelma and Louise gets remade in this powerful, darkly funny teen novel from acclaimed authors Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry. Two teenage girls who have had enough of the controlling men in their lives take their rage on the road to make a new life for themselves....

A poignant coming-of-age novel about two best friends whose friendship is tested when they get the opportunity to leave their impoverished small town for an elite prep school. For fans of Looking for Alaska....

In a Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three “dumpsite boys” make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city....

When it happened Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge only gave him a year in a group home. The judge had no idea that he'd actually done Miguel a favor....

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses....

The stakes have never been higher. The games are do or die. Cory’s life has become one big gamble, and he’s on a path he never intended to take. Cory must decide whether he's willing to risk his life to save his friends and the one he loves, or save himself.

Caitlin can't afford to leave this dreamland, this half-sleeping state where everything and everyone can be kept at arm's length....

Luke and Toby have always had each other's backs. But then one choice - or maybe it is a series of choices - sets them down an irrevocable path. We'll Fly Away weaves together Luke and Toby's senior year of high school with letters Luke writes to Toby later - from death row....

An astonishing new voice in teen literature, writing what is sure to be one of the most talked-about debuts of the year....

But the weather-beaten sailboat Chance Taylor and his father call home is thirty years old and hasn’t sailed in years. One step from both homelessness and hunger, Chance worries about things other kids his age never give a thought....

This is the sequel to Freckles - the moving story of a young girl whose kindness and wholesome philosophy brightens the lives of everyone she meets....

This diary of a runaway girl and her search for a home celebrates hope, resilience, and happy endings as only Wendelin Van Draanen, the author of Flipped and other acclaimed novels, can....

Allison is in danger at home. Her stepmother has run away and her father is getting worse. So she runs away too and with no where to live finds herself hiding out, miles from home, in an elderly woman’s shed....

Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn't used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science....

Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin. That is, when he's in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. But now he's going to be attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan, and black teenage boys don't exactly fit in there....

Laurel would do anything to turn back time....

An unhoused teenager struggles to survive a criminal scrapping ring while unraveling a dark family history....

On a frosty morning sometime in the 14th century, in a village somewhere in England, a girl known only as Brat was sleeping in a dung heap. "You, girl. Are you alive or dead?" This woman was Jane the midwife, and she needed a helper....

John and Lorraine happen to be passing by the Pigman’s abandoned house when they receive the shock of their lives: someone or something is watching them from the upstairs window....

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms....

Blue de la Cour has her life planned: hide the magic in her blood and continue trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and a cruel but powerful woman claims custody of Blue and her property, one wrong move could expose her....

Ian Gray isn’t supposed to have a dog, but a lot of things that shouldn’t happen end up happening anyway. And Gather, Ian’s adopted pup, is good company now that Ian has to quit the basketball team, find a job, and take care of his mom as she tries to overcome her opioid addiction. Despite the obstacles thrown their way, Ian is determined to keep his family afloat no matter what it takes. And for a little while, things are looking up: Ian makes friends, and his fondness for the outdoors and for fixing things lands him work helping neighbors.

Prequel to The Gas Station Girl. My teacher wanted us to write about something that impacted our lives. Boy is she in for a surprise. Don't worry, I toned down the rough language to stay within my high school's writing guidelines. John Jensen’s aunt called me the gas station girl because that’s where John found me after my escape. But before I became the gas station girl, I was a DollarFly girl. All of us came from backgrounds we were running away from. But we weren’t a therapy group, we were teenage prostitutes, lured by the promise of a better life than the ones we left behind. Some...

Having a baby in a gas station attracted more attention than fifteen-year-old Kennedi wanted. Attention that led to placement with foster mom Amanda who acts overly controlling, and foster dad Henry who seems annoyed at her presence. When Henry suggests they look for her baby’s unknown father through a DNA heritage service to extract monetary restitution from him, Kennedi wonders if Henry is really trying to find relatives to send her to. The baby’s DNA results match with members of a paternal clan but lack matches to Kennedi’s own family lineage, leading to events that have her ...

A rebellious young woman. A beloved companion. Can they survive the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world?Kimberly and her beloved dog Kaya grow up in an underground military base during a nuclear apocalypse. They are more than anxious to explore the new world now that the radiation levels have subsided, but there are evils inside the base that might be greater than what exists on the surface. Are the teen and her loyal pet ready to face the dangers and horrors of what was left behind? Bestselling author Scott W. Kimak spins another tale of love, loss, and suspense in this breathtaking ...

The stakes have never been higher. The games are do or die. Cory’s life has become one big gamble, and he’s on a path he never intended to take. Cory must decide whether he's willing to risk his life to save his friends and the one he loves, or save himself. In this deadly game of chance, Cory’s life once again becomes intertwined with the girl who betrayed him. But if he's not careful or misses the clues, he just might make a wager he will certainly lose.