Difficult Parents

Annie has been promised a summer of freedom in the country. Freedom from a difficult school year, freedom from her fake "friends" back in the city, and, most of all, freedom from her mom's life-governing spreadsheets and rigid schedules.

You've never met anyone exactly like 12-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two. Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home. Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret.

Pram Bellamy is special - she can talk to ghosts. She doesn't have too many friends amongst the living, but that's all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix. Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram's power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

When Mary Pinny dies from a snakebite, she leaves her young daughter, Comity, and husband Herbert in the Middle of Nowhere. As Stationmaster of the Kinkindele Repeater Station, Herbert Pinny takes great pride in his job; receiving morse messages and passing them down the Wire. But Comity dreams of a different life and sends letters to her grandmother and her snooty aunt full of colourful tales of her imaginary life. That is, until the new station assistant, Quartz Hogg, arrives and brings Comity and her father sharply back down to earth.

Abram and Juliette know each other. They've lived down the street from each other their whole lives. But they don't really know each other - at least not until Juliette's mom and Abram's dad have a torrid affair that culminates in a deadly car crash. Later, when they see each other, it's uncomfortable, to say the least. They don't speak.

Ro thinks her family is totally unlike anyone else's; Jodie is afraid of herself. So they spend a long time stepping carefully around the truth, hiding secrets that they know are too terrible to reveal. These shadows from the past just won't go away and in a hostile society Ro and Jodie end up with only each other - and that grab bag of feelings that go to make up a friend: love, hate, guilt, and forgiveness.

Luke was not eager to accompany his best friend, Hayden, and the cocky new kid, Russell, up to the cliff that night. The plan was to watch Russell jump off the cliff into the lake - his initiation for the Briar Academy fencing team. But instead, after an angry confrontation with Hayden, Russell falls to his death. Now Hayden is in jail and the pressure is on Luke to report what he saw. But what did he see?

When Iggy Corso gets kicked out of high school, there's no one for him to tell. His mother has gone off, his father is stoned on the couch, and because the phone's been disconnected, even the social worker can't get through. So he leaves a note and goes out to make something of his life, but that's not so easy when you're 16, living in public housing, have no skills, and your only friend is a law-school dropout who's thinking about joining the Hare Krishnas.

Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status at the Royal Duchy School and her pathetic dad, who hasn’t gotten past her mum’s death. The only bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab in London. It takes a lot of nerve to apply to such a prestigious program, and Jude’s not sure she can do it. Then Jude’s childhood best friend, Stella, returns. Stella, sexy and bold, and 10 times cooler than Jude. With Stella by her side, Jude knows she’s capable of anything. But Stella’s influence extends well beyond the theater.

Pram Bellamy is special - she can talk to ghosts. She doesn't have too many friends among the living, but that's all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix. Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram's power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

A Delsie le encanta saber cuál será el estado del tiempo; últimamente, sin embargo, parece que las tormentas están en su propia vida. Siempre ha vivido con su bondadosa abuela, pero ahora mira su realidad de manera diferente y quisiera poder tener una "familia normal". Delsie también percibe otros cambios en el aire: el más doloroso es la sensación de haber perdido a una amiga.

Ever since his mother was killed in the line of duty in Iraq, Derrick has been absolutely certain that the apocalypse is coming. And he's prepared: he's got plenty of canned goods, he's fully outfitted with HAZMAT suits, and he's building himself a sturdy fallout shelter. When his neighbor Misty insists on helping with the shelter, Derrick doesn't think it's such a good idea. Misty's just had a kidney transplant, and her reaction to her brush with death is the opposite of Derrick's. When Derrick's promised apocalypse day begins, Derrick and Misty have to figure out a way to survive.

Life in Oakroy, Pennsylvania is about as far and away from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as a cactus is the ocean. But when you're the single daughter to Malcolm O'Malley, a large man who's about as stuck in the 1980s as a hand is stuck in a peanut butter jar, things aren't always easy. Rachel's 15 going on 16, and with her mother passed away at age six, she's going to have to deal with her father's conservative politics, his new dates, his Catholic faith, and his very vocal politics. Is Rachel going to make it out of high school without tearing her hair out? Find out and see!

For Georgia, this summer is shaping up to be a big disappointment. Mama is busy studying for her biology degree. Daddy is working nights, and often the man who comes home isn’t Daddy. He’s a man who looks like Daddy, but walks a little wobbly. Who sounds like Daddy, but sings a little too loud. Georgia calls him the Shadow Man.

While on a whale-watching excursion with her dad, Willa is alone on one side of the boat when she sees a humpback whale. Her awe and wonderment about this massive and beautiful creature turns to shock when the whale communicates with her, introducing herself as Meg. As their friendship develops, Willa comes to view Meg as a trusted confidant - who offers her advice about difficult issues in Willa’s life.

When Sofia lost her mother eight months ago, her friends were 100% there for her. But now it's a new year, and they're ready for Sofia to move on. The problem is that Sofia can't bounce back - she can't recharge like a cellphone. She decides to write Dear Kate, an advice columnist for Fifteen Magazine, and is surprised to receive a fast reply. Soon, the two are exchanging emails, and Sofia opens up and spills all, including a few worries that are totally embarrassing.

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities. Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her "life" if things had gone differently at key moments.

Natalie Armstrong has everything: She's smart and beautiful, has the perfect boyfriend, early acceptance to college, and a loving family. But the summer she turns 17, she finally decides to ask some unanswered questions: Who are her biological parents, and why did they give her up when she was born? These questions take her on a journey from the deep woods of Maine to the streets of New York City, from the pages of old phone books and a tattered yearbook photo to the realization that she might actually meet her biological mother face-to-face.

Life hasn't been great for Jeff Hicks. After years at his beloved St. Catherine's, he's forced to spend eighth grade in the public middle school, which he hates. He's no longer speaking to his former best friend, Tom Bender, because of "that burned girl" Jessica Feeney. But worst of all, his family is changing, and it's not for the better. When his mom comes home announcing that she's lost her job, Jeff begins to worry about things far beyond his years.

There are times we all feel we need more than one heart to get through. When Briana’s father dies, she imagines she has a new heart growing inside her. It speaks to her in her Dad’s voice. Some of its commands are mysterious. "Find her!" it says. "Be your own!" How can Briana “be her own” when her grieving mother needs her to take care of her demanding little brother all the time? When all her grandpa can do is tell stories instead of being the “rock" she needs?