Adam & Eve & Pinch-Me*

15-year-old Sara Moone, abandoned at birth and shunted from one foster home to another, finds that she cannot remain aloof from her latest family.

Alone At Ninety Foot*

Annie John

The story of a young girl coming of age in Antigue. Annie John is an adolescent who has a sometimes rocky, sometimes loving relationship with her mother.

Annie's Baby: The Diary Of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager

SPARKS, C (ed.)

Diary of 14-year-old Annie, who writes her most private thoughts as she becomes pregnant and faces responsibilities beyond her years.

Bad*

Sentenced to six months in the Girls Rehabilitation Center for her participation in a convenience store robbery, Dallas acknowledges her responsibility for her actions and is insightful about how her low self-esteem and need for love has driven her to delinquency.

Beyond The Mango Tree

While living in Liberia with her possessive, diabetic and often absent father, Sarina longs for a friend with whom to experience the world beyond her yard.

Blessing Over Ashes

The remarkable true story of a 14-year-old refugee from the killing fields of Cambodia who changes the life of his American foster parents.

Bodega Dreams

Powerful, darkly funny, novel that brilliantly evokes the trials of Chino, a smart, promising young man who finds himself over his head in an urban underworld of switchblades and violence.

Boy Who Drank Too Much

A realistic and dramatic portrayal of a young man torn by alcoholism and the conflicting demands of his father, hockey and his own values.

Breaking Rank*

17-year-old Casey has some of her preconceptions challenged when she tutors Baby, a member of the Clan, a gang-like society in her school.

Breath, Eyes, Memory

At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village in Haiti to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know, and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti.

Bride Price

EMECHETA, B

A story about a Nigerian girl who is allowed to finish her education because a diploma will enhance her bride price, who then rebels against traditional marriage customs.

Bygones

Forgetting the special bond that first brought them together, Bess and Michael Curran engage in a bitter divorce until their daughter, Lisa, makes a shocking announcement that forces the family to amend past mistakes.

Can't Hear You Listening

Carolina Autumn*

Carolina slowly emerges from her grief after her father and sister's death in a plane crash, forging new relationships with her mother and friends.

Caucasia

A sensitive coming-of-age story about two sisters whose parents are an inter-racial couple, and the way the world perceives each girl as a result of her skin color.

Child Called "It". One Child's Courage To Survive

Dave Pelzer shares his unforgettable story of the many abuses he suffered at the hands of his alcoholic mother and the averted eyes of his neglectful father. Someone with no one to turn to, his dreams barely kept him alive.

Chinese Cinderella: The True Story Of An Unwanted Daughter

YEN MAH, A

An authentic portrait of 20^th-century China, as well as the story of the painful childhood of an unwanted daughter.

Chinese Handcuffs

Dillion Hemingway must pick up the pieces of his own life after his brother's suicide, plus deal with girlfriend problems and peer pressure.

Conditions Of Love*

A realistic and witty portrayal of high school freshman Sarah Morgan's struggle to survive the trauma of losing her father while coping with the pitfalls of adolescence.

Crazy Horse Electric Game

Willie, a baseball hero who is brain-damaged in an accident, runs away from home when his family and friends shun him.

Cut*

While confined to a mental hospital, Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons for her self-mutilation and gradually gets better.

Dance For Three*

15-year-old Hannah must face some hard truths as pregnancy, and rejection by her boyfriend, propel her towards a mental breakdown.

December Stillness*

Kelly's interest in a homeless Vietnam veteran ends in a tragedy while opening a door to a deeper relationship with her father, who had never come to grips with his own experiences in Vietnam.

Deep End Of The Ocean

Beth Cappadora, brings along her children to a school reunion. She asks 7-year-old Vincent to watch his younger brother Ben as she makes her way to the hotel's registration desk. When she returns, Ben is gone.

Dibs, In Search Of Self

A disturbed child's successful struggle through therapy as he changes from a withdrawn to an outgoing person.

Dicey's Song*

A heartwarming novel of the young Tillerman family, led by eldest sister Dicey.

Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

Dive*

Happy with his stable life, Ben chooses to stay with his stepfather when his mother's increasing restlessness causes her to leave, taking Ben's older stepbrother with her.

Don’t Hurt Laurie!*

Laurie is an abused child who must choose between leaving her best friend or living a tortured life at home.

Don't Think Twice*

Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey*

Tish chronicles her life in the journal she must keep for English class. When her abusive father returns home, Tish's entries are increasingly marked "Do Not Read" until she realizes silence may be dangerous.

Door Near Here*

Head of the household at 15 when her out-of-work, alcoholic mother refuses to get out of bed, Katherine wonders how long she can hold things together and keep her three siblings' teachers from becoming suspicious.

Downtown*

Dreamland

A young girl is trapped in a cycle of violence, love and need as she searches to find herself within an abusive relationship.

Eclipse Of Moonbeam Dawson*

Edgar Allen*

The bitter repercussions of a white family's intended adoption of a black child.

Ellen Foster

Ellen Foster, cast adrift after the deaths of her drunken father and misused mother, moves from one bad situation to another until she finds a real home.

Face At The Edge Of The World

Face In Every Window*

JP's safe and secure world unravels when his grandmother, his family's guiding hand, dies, leaving him with a mentally challenged father and a mother who retreats into adolescence.

Falling Leaves

Adeline Yen Mah, the youngest daughter of an affluent Chinese family, endured a childhood of appalling emotional abuse. Her struggles reveal the harsh realities of growing up female in 20^th century China.

Father Figure

17-year-old Jim Atwater and his younger brother, Byron, find their lives turned upside down by the death of their mother and the return of their long-lost father.

Finding Laura Buggs

One perplexing clue to her past sets Sandy Meyer on an incredible and harrowing journey in search of her lost family, a pilgrimage that brings her face to face with nerve-shattering suspense, unbearable terror and the magnificent capacity of the human heart.

For The Life Of Laetitia

Forged By Fire*

While his mother was serving a prison sentence for child neglect, Gerald lived with his aunt. Then, one day, his mother returns with her new husband and Angel, Gerald's little sister. As the children grow up, it becomes more and more apparent that Angel needs Gerald's protection from her father's sexual abuse. But who will protect Gerald?

Glimmer*

Sage, youngest sibling of five, and the product of an interracial marriage, has lived her life knowing that her parents separated while her mother was pregnant with her. When she goes to college, she encounters fellow students that force her to consider how she wants to define herself in terms of race and sexuality.

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Autobiographical novel of a family in Harlem composed of an angry father, a stoic mother, a rebellious older son and a sensitive younger one.

Great Santini

A tyrannical father brutalizes his family, and particularly his oldest son, interpreting humanity as weakness in this unsparing novel. Tragedy is the outcome.

Hanged Man

Laurel, whose father is dying, meets Jack in the hospital waiting room. She encounters Jack again, and their subsequent relationship brings out her own haunting. Her late father had for years sexually abused her, resulting in a terminated pregnancy and anorexia.

Hard Love*

John's friendship with Marisol helps him deal with his buried feelings about his family in this honest and engaging look at a teenage boy's first love.

Harley, Like A Person

Harley, an artistic teenager living with his alcoholic father and angry mother, suspects that she's adopted and begins a search to find her long lost father, and hope.

Hate You*

Nursing hatred for an abusive father that choked her and damaged her voice as a child, 17-year-old Alice writes songs she cannot sing, and tries to come to terms with her feelings.

Heaven

JOHNSON, A

When Marley, who is African American, learns that her itinerant uncle is really her father and her loving "parents" are her aunt and uncle, she has to come to terms with her feelings of anger, betrayal and curiosity as to who she really is.

Hero*

After years of abuse and neglect, Sean Parker is headed for trouble. Sent to do community service at a farm for elderly Mr. Hassler, Sean realizes that he can choose to take control of his life.

Homecoming*

Four abandoned children take a journey from Connecticut to Maryland in search of love.

I Hadn't Meant To Tell You This*

Two girls, one a poor abused white girl, the other a middle class African American whose mother had left the family, build a friendship in spite of their cultural and racial differences.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Fonny, a talented young artist, finds himself unjustly arrested and locked in New York's infamous (prison) tombs. His girlfriend, Tish, is determined to free him, and to have his baby.

Imani All Mine

Imitate The Tiger*

Chris Serbo looks for salvation in football and drinking, but neither will fill the emptiness inside. Not until he finds himself in danger on a lonely road does he come face-to-face with the person he has become.

It's Not The End Of The World

Karen Newman, who is stunned when her father moves out of the house, is determined to come up with a plan that will prevent her parents’ divorce.

Jacob Have I Loved*

A twin, overshadowed by her talented and charismatic sister, is tormented by hate and jealousy.

Jade*

Jemmy

Juanita Fights The School Board

Jubilee Journey

Emily Rose has always felt comfortable growing up in Connecticut with her African-American mother and her French-American father, but when she spends some time with her grandmother in Texas, she learns more about her heritage.

Kidnapping Of Christina Lattimore

Christina's kidnappers are holding her for ransom, but her family is convinced that she is an accomplice in her own kidnapping! Christina is on her own to prove her innocence. But what if she can't?

Kim/Kimi

IRWIN, H

Despite a warm relationship with her mother, stepfather and half brother, 16-year-old Kim feels the need to find answers about the Japanese American father she never knew.

Kissing Doorknobs*

Tara is bright and funny, but is also troubled with quirky behaviors she knows are irrational, but can't control - like kissing doorknobs. A funny and compelling story about obsessive-compulsive behavior, and how it affects relationships.

Kitchen God’s Wife

An unfolding of secrets that takes a mother and her daughter back to the small island outside Shangui in the 1920’s and throughout China during WW II.

Life For A Life

HILL, E

Story of the unlikely bond between an African-American father and the teenager who killed his son, a tale of violent self-destruction reclaimed by the inexhaustible power of love and forgiveness.

Light In The Forest*

The unforgettable story of a white boy raised by Native Americans and torn between the claims of blood and loyalty.

Like Sisters On The Homefront*

WILLIAMS-GARCIA, R

When 14-year-old Gayle becomes pregnant a second time, her mother sends her to Georgia to live with her Uncle Luther. Strong-willed and impulsive, Gayle eventually makes friends with her pious cousin Constance, but develops a true affinity for Luther's stubborn, spirited grandmother.

Lisa, Bright And Dark*

Three teenage friends help Lisa to cope with the mental illness her parents and teachers refuse to acknowledge.

Locked Inside

Kidnapped and locked away in a basement, 16-year-old heiress Marnie is forced to confront painful truths about her family as she tries to escape.

Looking For Alibrandi

Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family

In the sequel to A Child Called "It", Dave Pelzer reveals new adventures through the compelling story of his life as an adolescent and an F-Child (Foster Child). Tears, laughter, devastation and hope create the journey of this little lost boy who searches desperately for just one thing -- the love of a family.

Lottery Rose*

HUNT, I

A young boy victimized by child abuse overcomes his mistrust of the world.

Mama

MCMILLAN, T

Focusing on the African-American woman's experience, Mama reflects on children, men, money, loneliness and alcoholism through Mildred Peacock's life and family.

Man Named Dave: A Story Of Triumph And Forgiveness

The third part in David Pelzer's autobiographical trilogy is an inspiring story of terror, recovery and hope experienced by the author throughout his life. He provides living proof that we can "stop the cycle" and lead fulfilling, rewarding lives.

Marchlands

Set on a 1,000-acre sheep ranch in the vast landscape of Wyoming, the story concerns one pivotal year in the life of 15-year-old Sophie Behr. She is a young woman searching for the truth about her family's past, even as she seeks to define her own future with the child she is carrying.

Max The Mighty*

Grieving over the loss of his best friend, Max Kane befriends a lonely girl nicknamed "Worm", who needs a friend to protect her from her stepfather.

Missing Girls

Missing Pieces*

Jessie's father walked out on his family when she was just a baby. Why should she care about him when it's clear he never cared about her? Yet after years of anxiety, Jessie needs to know more about him, and so, despite her mother's objections, she decides to track her father down.

Misty*

Moonlight Man*

Catherine's parents were divorced when she was a toddler, and her contact with her father over the years has been erratic. Subsequently she has a somewhat romantic picture of the man who is her father. Over the course of a summer holiday spent with him in Nova Scotia, Catherine comes face to face with his alcoholism.

Mr. And Mrs. Bo Jo Jones

My Louisiana Sky

Tiger Ann Parker desperately wants to escape from her rural town of Saitter, Louisiana - and the struggles of living with a mentally disabled mother, a "slow" father, and classmates who taunt her. But before she leaves to spend the summer with her aunt in Baton Rouge, the sudden revelation of a dark family secret prompts Tiger to make a decision that will ultimately change her life.

My Sister From The Black Lagoon

Lorna comes of age in the shadows of a family torn apart by her sister's mental illness.

My Sweet Audrina*

Audrina Adare knew her father could not love her as he loved her sister. Her sister was so special, so perfect - and dead. Then she comes face to face with a dangerous, terrifying secret. Haunting story of love and deceit, innocence and betrayal, and the suffocating power of parental love.

Necessary Roughness

The move from LA to a small town in Minnesota is a cultural shock for Chan Kim, an Asian teen who must learn to deal with intolerance as well as the anxiety of adolescence and a problematic relationship with his father.

Nine Man Tree

Yoolee Tharp tries to protect his mother and his sister from his abusive father and from an unspeakable horror stalking the swamplands.

No Kidding

In a 21^st century society where both alcoholism and its treatment have become institutionalized, 14-year-old Sam is allowed to decide the fate of his family after his mother is released from an alcohol rehabilitation center.

No More Saturday Nights

Only Alien On The Planet*

Ginny never thought she would fall for someone like Smitty, a child abuse victim. Eventually, Smitty lets Ginny into his troubled, hidden world and they begin the gradual process of healing - together.

Optimist's Daughter

Ordinary People

An incisive, unsparing look at family politics among a father, a mother and a son in the wake of a family tragedy.

Out Of The Dust

As dust storms and the Great Depression ravage Oklahoma, Billie Jo comes of age within the landscape of failing farms, personal tragedy, and family relationships that are badly in need of repair.

Phoenix Rising

Place To Call Home

KOLLER, J

15-year-old biracial Anna tries to care for her 5-year-old sister and infant brother when her alcoholic mother disappears yet again. Anna discovers her mother's car in a nearby lake - evidence of her suicide.

Prince Of Tides

Reappearance Of Sam Webber

After his father’s desertion, Sam learns that family can come in various colors, shapes and sizes. An award winning portrayal of the daily joys, hopes and hungers of a middle-class black family, and that the worst of circumstances can be a blessing in disguise.

Rite Of Passage

Johnny, a gifted 15-year-old, runs away from home when he discovers that he's really a foster child and that the faceless city bureaucracy is moving him to a new family. Suddenly alone on the streets, hungry and lost, he survives with a brutal gang, fights the leader for dominance, and helps mug a man in the park.

Secret Of Two Brothers*

Beaver has just returned to his West Dallas barrio after serving time in prison for a crime he did not commit. During Beaver's absence, his younger brother, Cande, abused by his father, had to fend for himself. The two brothers are successful in avoiding their father and in becoming a family again. However, when Cande is involved in a car accident, the abuse and the brothers' living situation, is discovered.

Someone Like You*

Quiet Halley and popular Scarlet strive for a new balance in their friendship junior year when Scarlett's boyfriend dies in a motorcycle accident and Scarlett discovers that she is pregnant, and really needs her best friend.

Song Of Solomon

Macon Dead, an upper-class Northern black businessman, tries to insulate his family the danger and despair of the rank and file blacks with whom he shares the neighborhood. The plan leads his son onto a path exactly opposite the one his father had hoped.

Spring Tone

Tomomi feels as though her whole life is turning upside down when her grandmother's death, the onset of puberty, and family secrets bring disturbing dreams.

Star*

Staying Fat For Sarah Burnes

When smart, sarcastic Sarah Burns was three years old, her face and hands were badly burned in a mysterious accident. 15 years later, Sarah's horrific past finally catches up with her, and it becomes her friend Eric's mission to help her through the pain.

Striking Out*

Stuck In Neutral*

Cerebral Palsy traps Shawn McDaniel in a world where he can't speak or control his movement. No one knows that he is more than he seems - that he thinks, reads and understands that his dad wants him dead.

Taking Terri Mueller*

Telling*

Tex

A year in the life of a poor high school student in Oklahoma struggling to come to terms with an absent father, a tense older brother and a new girlfriend.

They Cage The Animals At Night

Gripping autobiographical account of a child whose mother abandoned him at the age of eight.

Timon's Tide*

Tribute To Another Dead Rock *

Grady Grennan is in Seattle for a concert tribute to his mother, a grunge-rock icon who died three years ago. He has been invited to speak at the tribute, but what is he supposed to say to thousands of adoring fans about a mother who abandoned her sons in favor of a musical career?

Tune In Anytime*

As she watches her family fall apart around her, 16-year-old Sohie wishes that real life was like a soap opera and she could change the channel or fast forward to the final episode. But will she find a happy ending?

Turtle Moon*

Captivating story of a divorced woman, her disillusioned teenage son, and the events that change their lives in ways both simple and extraordinary.

Up Country

Carl is smart and focused on getting away from his drunken mother and her "classy guys". He runs a stolen car-radio business, hoping to earn enough money for college, but then his mother is arrested for drunk driving, and he has to live with his country relatives up north.

Vanishing*

Watcher*

A lonely and abused teenage girl creates fantasy lives in her journal about two boys she observes on the beach.

Watching The Roses*

We Were The Mulvaneys

Saga about a seemingly ideal family that is suddenly rocked by the date-rape of 16-year-old Marianne Mulvaney. This shattering event brings about an extraordinary journey into 25 years of shameful secrets and despair, culminating in the unforeseen miracles that can bring a family closer together.

Weeping Willow*

What Jamie Saw

When Jamie saw Van throw his little sister, his mother moved them to a small trailer in the woods where they could learn to trust one another, and the people around them.

What Kind Of Love? The Diary Of A Pregnant Teenager*

What They Don't Know*

Kelly's younger sister, Hannah, had always been strong-willed, but things take a sudden turn for the worse after Hannah prepares a blood project for the school science fair. Determined to know the facts and find the cause of Hannah's abrupt spree of self-destructive behavior, Kelly sets out to solve the mystery.

When She Was God*

Em spent the first 14 years of her life suffering from her father's alcoholic rages and her mother's silent depression, and the next three trapped with her abusive sister, Pamela. Then Pamela dies, and Em, alone at last, does her best to live as she imagines "normal" people do. Will she be able to manage now that she is on her own?

When She Was Good

The moving story of a young girl's courage and resilience in the face of family alcoholism, depression and abuse.

White Horse

16-year-old Raina reveals her life with a dysfunctional family, life on the streets, drug abuse and an unplanned pregnancy through her writing to a concerned teacher.

White Mercedes*

Chris is working the lighting at a party in Oxford when he meets Jenny. They meet again by chance a few days later and begin a relationship. Jenny has run away from an abusive home, and the separation of Chris's parents has forced him to grow up before he is ready. Jenny and Chris make bad decisions that lead to her death.

White Oleander

Zack*

BELL, W

Child of a mixed marriage, Zack Lane finds out why his mother won't talk about her side of the family in this tale of race hatred and personal identity.