Poverty Kids

A distinctive new voice: Rex Ogle's story of starting middle school on the free lunch program is timely, heartbreaking, and true. Free Lunch is the story of Rex Ogle's first semester in sixth grade. Rex and his baby brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies, and Rex was on his school's free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex's is a compelling story of a more profound hunger - that of a child for his parents' love and care.

Age Level: 7 and up Grade Level: 2rd and up My name is Janie and I'm eleven years old. My life changed when I met a genie that can give me whatever I want for Christmas. I'm not popular at school and the other girls make fun of me. Santa Claus warned me to be careful what I wish for. What could go wrong? Experience the magic of Christmas with Janie in a fun fantasy with valuable lessons for kids, teachers, and parents. It's an enjoyable story for children in elementary and middle school, and grabs the attention of reluctant readers.

In Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids' Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, veteran educator and brain expert Eric Jensen takes an unflinching look at how poverty hurts children, families, and communities across the United States and demonstrates how schools can improve the academic achievement and life readiness of economically disadvantaged students.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a “provocative and compelling” (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, The New...

This 10th anniversary edition of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller includes a new introduction and afterword by the author. Chronicling the lifelong friendship between a busy sales executive and a disadvantaged young boy that began with one small gesture of kindness, this is a “ray of...

This book is the culmination of a lifetime of love and lessons that have shaped my personal journey from a young man in crisis to a champion for children. There were critical moments in my story where self-appointed “Hope Dealers” like my mother, Alice Lovelace, and my educator, Dr. Lorraine Wilson, intervened in my projected course to failure. The lessons I learned from them became the foundation of my own work with and for young people facing challenges that they often did not believe they can face alone: hopelessness, shame, disability, tragic home life, generally summed up as the ...

Make the world a better place for people in need! This book is full of ideas and projects listeners can put into action to fight poverty.

Twelve-year-old Lowen Grover is still reeling from the shooting death of his best friend, Abe, when he stumbles across an article about a small town giving away homes for just one dollar. It seems like the perfect escape from Flintlock and all of the awful memories associated with the city - and to his surprise, his mum, dad, and older brother are all onboard. Only his sister, Anneth, is reluctant to leave her friends and the familiarity (and amenities!) of Flintlock, but with the rest of the family anxious to do what’s best for grief-stricken Lowen, her protests fall on deaf ears. But is the Dollar Program too good to be true?

Barely Missing Everything meets American Street in this “well-plotted, taut page-turner” (Booklist, starred review) that looks at the darker side of light-filled Jamaica and how a tragedy and missing drug money helplessly entangle the lives of two teens who want to change their fate. Deja is...

He was born the mixed-race son of a negligent, drug-dealing pimp father and a struggling single mother. He was raised in the slums of Dayton, Ohio, suffered incredible abuse and racism, and had multiple stints in the juvenile justice system. He barely graduated high school and has no college degree. No one expected him to succeed. But succeed he did. Gripping, heartbreaking, enlightening, and ultimately uplifting, I Got There proves that no obstacle is too difficult to conquer - and that the game can be won by anyone, from anywhere.

What's it like to live in government subsidized housing? Speaking from experience - it sucks! No one wants to live in the projects. As a child, my broken family was forced to move into the HUD projects of California. I lost my house, my dog and my dad. Mom kept us safe from harm and helped us to enjoy our time, but there were still parts of life in the projects that were terrible. The stories in this book are mostly true. They capture the essence of living poor in the United States in the 1980s. You can get away from the projects, but could you ever get out of them?

The unforgettable inspiring memoir of one extraordinary doctor who is saving lives in a most unconventional way, Ask Me Why I Hurt is the touching and revealing first-person account of the remarkable work of Dr. Randy Christensen. Trained as a pediatrician, he works not in a typical hospital setting but, rather, in a 38-foot Winnebago that has been refitted as a doctor's office on wheels. His patients are the city's homeless adolescents and children.

Riveting, powerful, and a little bit magical, Fault Lines offers readers a slow-burn romance alongside an unflinching examination of socio-economics, gender expectations, and environmental ethics. Gold Winner of the 2024 Nautilus Book Award for Young Adult (YA) Fiction Ever since her aunt died...

For fans of A Long Walk to Water and Hatchet, this boy’s gripping journey from poverty to empowerment transports readers to modern-day Ghana, into the throes of an extraordinary survival story. Sena treasures his life in rural Ghana—playing soccer, working the family farm, striving to...

A missing father. A mysterious stalker. One week to save her home. Twelve-year-old Lorraine’s world is falling apart. The rent on her tiny Zimbabwean cottage is about to double, and her mama is already two months behind on payments. Desperate to keep a roof over their heads, Lorraine makes a wish at the town’s old well—for her father, the man she’s never met, to return and help them. But wishes don’t come true that easily. When Mama loses her job, Lorraine begins searching for her dad. As she hunts for clues, she realizes someone is watching her. A strange man lurks in the shadows...

This uplifting story of a boys' football team shines light on the under-appreciated virtues that can bloom in impoverished neighborhoods, even as nearby communities exclude them from economic progress. Never Ran, Never Will tells the story of the working-class, mostly black neighborhood of...

In Those Who Wander, Vivian Ho delves deep into a rising subculture that’s changing the very fabric of her city and all of urban America. Moving beyond the disheartening statistics, she gives voices to these young people - victims of abuse, failed foster care, mental illness, and drug addiction. She also doesn’t ignore the threat they pose to themselves and to others as a dangerous dark side emerges. With alarming urgency, she asks what can be done to save the next generation of America’s vagabond youth.

The legend of the famous hero Robin Hood originates in dramatic pieces and ballads from the 15th century in England. His story has been given shape and retold through the centuries, and is still universally known to children nowadays. "The Tales of Robin Hood and his Merry Men", as retold by Mary Macleod, is a faithful rendition of the original medieval legend full of colorful and moral adventures. It is read by Katie Haigh, for the delight of children and as well as adults sensitive to literary style.

It's not fair. Greg seems to skip soccer practice at least once a week. But everyone else has to go, or else! One day, Caleb and Ian decide to figure out where Greg goes when he's not at practice. They follow him straight to a creepy old warehouse. What's inside? And what is Greg's big secret?

In this Very Short Introduction, Philip N. Jefferson explores how the answers to these questions lie in the social, political, economic, educational, and technological processes that impact all of us throughout our lives. The degree of vulnerability is all that differentiates us. He shows how a person's level of vulnerability to adverse changes in their life is very much dependent on the circumstances of their birth, including where their family lived, whether it was peacetime or wartime, whether they had access to clean water, and whether they are male or female.