Family Survival Fiction

Ten-year-old Benny found the drunken cart driver who caused his father's death, but he's got bigger mysteries to solve. A long, sharp knife, a bag of disguises and a savage black stallion don't reassure Benny about his traveling companion to frontier Missouri. Still, Benny can’t shake the Scripture’s promise that God “will never leave thee nor forsake thee."

Caje Amis and his father are mountain folk, they live off the land and have few interactions with more sophisticated people. But at the onset of an especially harsh winter, the two take shelter with distant relatives. The adjustment to their new life is an easy one for Caje, but impossible for his father, and the elder Amis ends up abandoning his son and vanishing into the cold!

After the end of a brutal civil war, London is divided, with slums standing next to a walled city of elites. Monk-like masters are selected for special schooling and shut away for decades, learning to write beautiful compositions for the chimes, played citywide morning and night, to mute memory and keep the citizens trapped in ignorance.

For Kirsten McKenna, the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has come under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. Only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side. Meanwhile, for Walker Jones, the goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin.

Mann is only 13, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go through in a lifetime. His family is still reeling from the tragic shooting death of his little brother, Jason, each person coping with grief in his or her own way.

There's no one more blunt, more opinionated, or more outspoken than the average teen. Except, of course, Bill O'Reilly, veteran star journalist, anchor of the most watched cable news program on TV, New York Times best-selling author, husband, father of two, and former teacher.

It all starts when Matthew observes a heroic scene in a convenience store: A man named Murdoch puts himself between an abusive father and his son. Matt is determined to get to know this man. And when, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt's mother, it seems as if life may become peaceful for the first time.

International human rights activist Lisa Shannon spent many afternoons at the kitchen table having tea with her friend Francisca Thelin, who often spoke of her childhood in Congo. Thelin would conjure vivid images of lush flower gardens, fish the size of small children, and of children running barefoot through her family's coffee plantation, gorging themselves on fruit from the robust and plentiful mango trees.

David, Neil, and Ryan are brothers that never get along. And their mother finally had enough! She sent them out to the sea and told them not come back until they have figured out how to be brothers. While the brothers were still arguing on the boat, the sea opened, and a strange beam of light appeared. It surrounded the youngest brother, Ryan. Before Neil or David could do anything, the light beam took Ryan into the sea. Left behind on the boat, David and Neil decided they must do everything possible to get their brother back.

Twelve-year-old Fernando “Fin” joins his grandfather on a secret quest to find a long-lost treasure swept to sea. But when their first mission takes a near-deadly turn, leaving his abuelo weak and unable to speak, Fin’s left to navigate the hunt alone. Well, not exactly alone—his boring, totally unadventurous dad agrees to help out. With danger lurking at every turn, Fin dives into the mission in order to save Abuelo's life.

Cousins Coral and Isa are so close that they’re practically siblings; their mothers are sisters, and the two girls grew up on the same small island. When Coral and her parents leave on a months-long sea voyage amid the islands of Indonesia, Isa is devastated that they’ll be kept apart, and the two vow to write to each other no matter what. Then the unthinkable happens, and Coral’s boat capsizes at sea, where her parents vanish. Washed up on a deserted island, alone and wracked by grief, she must find the strength within to survive, and find her way back home.

The brand burned into Charlie's arm is a constant reminder that family doesn't exist, people only care about their own selfish interests, and a handful of pendants, if united, could lead to negative consequences for the entire world. All he wants is to escape his perilous past and the people who want him dead. By accident, he arrives in the small town of Maibe, Nebraska where he has the chance to change his life an

Newbery Medal winner Lynne Rae Perkins introduces Violet and Jobie, two house mice exiled to the wilderness, in an exceptional read-aloud and read-alone for fans of Skunk and Badger, Nuts to You, and classic animal stories such as Stuart Little. This thrilling—and funny!—animal adventure explores themes of friendship, family, bravery, and the meaning of home. Violet & Jobie in the Wild is illustrated in black-and-white throughout by the author.

When Rio is sent to live with a grandmother he barely knows in California, he feels completely alone. Then he makes a new friend on the foggy beach—a girl named Marina, who teaches him about the massive grey whales that migrate nearby. As Rio grows to love the whales, he discovers that his mother loved them, too. He’s suddenly sure that if he can somehow find a way to connect her with these gentle giants – and especially with a particular whale named White Beak – she will get better and come to join him in California.

Their distance provided a margin of safety, but only if they used hand weapons with a standard projectile. In the brief glimpse of them, there were no apparent weapons. He considered retreating - however, it was a choice against the nature of his people’s militaristic psychological makeup. Besides, they were walking for days since arriving in their new world, and at the forest’s edge was the first sighting of a species other than birds, animals, or critters that slither. Evidence of a civilized society did not exist - but they were not alone.

Xaverie is scheduled to attend one of Second Earth's most prestigious schools. She soon becomes an integral part of a group of peers, and they all come to find that the school is more than it seems to be. Every cage has a lock that can be picked, and this group is about to break free. However, freedom has its own consequences - and Xaverie and her friends will find themselves in more trouble than they can imagine.

Their parents had to leave for a business trip, leaving them with their uncle to take care of them. Jasmin, Annalove, and Lilyrain find themselves caught up in an atypical adventure.

Gafferty Sprout is a Smidgen. A Smidgen looks like a human, sounds like a human, and loves chips with curry sauce like a human, if humans were three inches tall. Generations ago there were lots of them, living in a maze of tunnels beneath the human village of Dundoodle. But then something happened and they just disappeared.

Edwin really doesn't want to be a big brother. Forced to move house, start a new school and make way for this unwelcome interloper in his parents' affections, he feels like everything is chaos. But things might not be as bad as he fears, as Edwin makes an unusual pen-pal, Lanthorne, who introduces him to a strange world filled with dark secrets and thrilling adventures. This excitement seems safe until those secrets and adventures start to intrude on Edwin's life and, more worryingly, on the life of his baby sister.

Billy’s mum isn’t like other mums. All she wants is to teach him the rules of survival - how to make fire, build shelter and find food. She likes to test Billy on the rules, until one day she goes too far and Billy is sent to live with a dad he barely knows. Then the world changes suddenly and forever, as people begin to be infected with a mysterious virus that turns their skin grey. As chaos breaks out and Billy has to flee the city, he knows that this is what his mum was preparing him for - not just to save his family, but to save the whole world.