"A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and--with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education--he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted...

"Bobby, who is bullied by the kids at school for living in a home with a front yard that is filled with garbage, meets a young artist who teaches him to see himself as more than "Junk Boy.""-- Junk. That's what the kids at school call Bobby Lang. Trying desperately to live under the radar at school-- and at the home he shares with his angry, neglectful father-- Bobby develops a sort of proud loneliness. The only buffer between him and the uncaring...

Ryan Steel, his world recently upended by an earth-shattering secret, now faces yet another potential revelation surrounding the Steel family mystery. He no longer fully trusts his siblings or the woman he loves. He's alone---alone and terrified and immersed in a conundrum that becomes more twisted each day. Ruby Lee loves Ryan and desperately wants to help him. She'll do whatever she must to see him through this troubling time, but her own shrouded...

Stephen King's legendary debut, about a teenage outcast and the revenge she enacts on her classmates. Carrie White may be picked on by her classmates, but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem. Then, an act of kindness, as spontaneous as the vicious taunts of her classmates, offers Carrie a chance to be a normal... until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of horror...

Josie and Alec communicate via a spirit board, realize they are living in the same house a century apart, and develop a life-changing friendship.--Provided by Publisher.

"At the dawn of the twentieth century, a bright new age for children appeared on the horizon, with progress on ending child labor, providing public education, ensuring food and drug safety, combating abuse and neglect, and creating a juvenile justice system. But a hundred years on, the promised light has not arrived. Today, more than eleven million American children live in poverty and more than four million lack health insurance. Each year, we prosecute...

Matilda applies her untapped mental powers to rid the school of the evil child-hating headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and restore her nice teacher, Miss Honey, to financial security. Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. She expects school to be different, but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull, she suddenly discovers...

The New York Times–bestselling novel "deftly capturing the hidden thoughts" of a child in an abusive home is "haunting" and "not soon forgotten." (Booklist)
In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old girl—playing make-believe, going to school, dreaming of faraway places. But even in her imagination, she can't pretend away the hardships of her impoverished North Carolina home or protect her younger sister,...

"Twenty-one-year-old Hardy "Hardly" Reed--good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned--is drifting through life. A minimum wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions. Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if they're okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids. He reports the incident to Child Protective Services....

"Penny Wilson has a successful business, more friends than a girl could ask for, and a boyfriend she's madly and passionately in love with. Scott Beckley is honest, loyal, hands down the best lover on the planet, and absolutely gaga over his nieces and nephews. Scott's a keeper--as long as Penny doesn't ever want to hear those three magical words that would take their relationship to the next level"--Publisher marketing.