Difficult Adult Children

A two-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, Sharon Draper has penned numerous modern classics of youth literature. The third installment of her acclaimed Jericho trilogy, Just Another Hero returns to familiar territory for a new spin on her indelible characters. Arielle Gresham is faced with numerous problems at home, and a rash of petty crimes has beset her school. After alienating just about everyone who could help her, Arielle makes a fateful decision to help solve these crimes.

Lucky, age 10, can't wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has.

As children, Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick were both social outcasts. They were also one another's only friend. So when Cameron disappears without warning, Jennifer thinks she's lost the only person who will ever understand her. Now in high school, Jennifer has been transformed. Known as Jenna, she's popular, happy, and dating, everything "Jennifer" couldn't be - but she still can't shake the memory of her long-lost friend.

When the story opens, the eponymous hero of Rudolfo Anaya's novel is in an ambulance en route to a hospital for crippled children in the New Mexican desert. A poor boy from Albuquerque, 16-year-old Tortuga takes his name from the odd, turtle-shaped mountain that is rumored to possess miraculous curative powers. Tortuga is paralyzed, and not even his mother's fervent prayers can heal him. But under the mountain's watchful gaze, with the support of fellow patients, he begins the Herculean task of breaking out of his shell and becoming whole again.

London is everything to Cynthia, so when her parents move her to a place where there is only one bus an hour and the faint smell of horse manure continuously permeates the air, it's a culture shock, to say the least. As is transitioning to a private school. At her new school, Cynthia immediately finds herself caught between two brothers—head boy Thomas, who is white, and his adopted Black brother, Isaac. There is something about Isaac she cannot quite get enough of...but her father wants her to partner up with someone like Thomas.

Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside.

Leon John Crothers is 4779 days old (thirteen years and one month, if you're mathematically challenged). He has been 'moved on' from six different schools and most people think he has an attitude problem. Leon doesn't care for the label, in the same way that he doesn't care for Tim Burton, supermarket trolleys, train fanatics or Bounty bars. This time, however, things may turn out differently, as help comes from where he least expects it—Dr Snot, a physician at pains to help Leon navigate 'normal' and classmates, Tanya and Lawrence, who both face their own challenges.

Tienes cinco años, dos hermanas y deseas con todas tus fuerzas un hermanito para jugar a cosas de chicos. Un día tus padres te anuncian que tendrás a ese hermano y que será especial. Estás loco de alegría: especial para ti significa «superhéroe». Tras su nacimiento, poco a poco entiendes que sí, que es distinto a los demás, pero que lo de los superpoderes no acaba de ser verdad. Al final descubres las palabras «síndrome de Down», y tu entusiasmo se transforma en rechazo, incluso en vergüenza.

My name is Zelah Green and I’m a cleanaholic. I spend most of my life running away from germs. And dirt. And people. And I’m just about doing OK and then my stepmother packs me off to some kind of hospital to live with loads of strangers. It’s stuck in the middle of nowhere. Great. There’s Alice who’s anorexic. Caro who cuts herself. Silent Sol who has the cutest smile. And then there’s me. It’ll be fine, I say to myself. It’s all going to be OK...A touching, funny and sympathetic story for young adults about a teenage girl with OCD, 'Zelah Green' was a winner of the Manchester Children’s Book Awards 2010.

Benito's father, Xavier, has been in Iraq for more than a year. When he returns, Benito's family life is not the same. Xavier suffers from PTSD - post-traumatic stress disorder - and yells constantly. He causes such a scene at a school function that Benny is embarrassed to go to back to Southside High. Benny can't handle seeing his dad so crazy, so he decides to run away. Will Benny find a new life? Or will he learn how to deal with his dad - through good times and bad?

Genius girl, Bounce, and her two drifter sidekicks, Wiggins and Orange, are holding the Frog hostage. As the stakes grow higher and the guilt and tension mount, Wiggins begins to question his complicity and must choose where his loyalties lie. Not for the faint of heart, Adam Rapp’s mesmerizing narrative told in alternating viewpoints ventures deep into disturbing territory. A powerful, unforgettable story.

Third-grader Jamie sees his baby sister being tossed across the room by his stepfather. His mother miraculously catches the baby, and what follows are the effects of the incident on Jamie.

Christmas is coming and everyone around 16-year-old Liz Kitchell is busy with preparations. The big houses in her neighborhood are shimmering inside and out with luxurious decorations. And her parents are trying to impress all their friends with extravagant parties and expensive gifts. But Liz feels empty inside. In her English class, her group has to write a composition: How do you get what you want for Christmas?

Daadi Maa’s Diary Of Secrets Why does Daadi Maa pinch so compulsively? Join Vivek as he secretly reads Daadi Maa's diary and learns about the tragedy that fell upon her when she was a young girl. But will tragedies tear apart his family or bring them together? Seven year old Vivek thinks his Daadi Maa is a mean old lady until he finds her diary. Although the first few entries are hilarious to him, Vivek soon realizes it was not meant to be funny.

101 Funny Riddles is full of hilarious and challenging brain teasers and difficult math riddles for smart kids, teens, and adults. Great for family night and road and plane trips. Try not to laugh! Good for ages six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, and 12.

In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama, thousands of African-American children volunteered to march for their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speak. They protested the laws that kept black people separate from white people. Facing fear, hate, and danger, these children used their voices to change the world. Monica Clark-Robinson's moving and poetic words document this remarkable time.