Poverty Fiction

Lazarus "Laz" Weathers has always been shy, and his issue with stuttering when he speaks hasn't helped. Stuck in a Seattle trailer park, Laz finds baseball helps him escape from the world of poverty and drugs. When he gets an opportunity to pitch for the rich kids across town, he has a chance to get drafted by the major leagues. But playing for the other team means leaving behind his family, including Antonio, Laz's younger brother, who more and more, seems to be drawn to the dark world of the Jet City's drug ring.

On the verge of her thirteenth birthday, Tess's life is falling apart. Her mother is dead. Her father is like a zombie. And now her beloved cat, Alice, has started running into the street when cars go by, trying to get run over. The only thing Tess can think of that might help? Running away. As she ventures from home, Tess stumbles upon a crew of manga-loving goth kids hiding out in the local haunted house performing seances.

Running away from her past, Elisa finds herself homeless in Hawaii. The streets aren't what they seem, though—even in paradise—and cops make her stay in a "homeless park." She's only 17 and with a man she hardly knows, but they must learn to work together if they expect to survive as street musicians.

Who is your invisible neighbor? When Mrs. Johnson gives her fourth grade class this new riddle to solve, Isabelle can’t wait to take on the challenge. She’s a smart, curious girl who loves competition and hopes to be a veterinarian someday. But this riddle is the most difficult one she’s ever had to solve. Before she can unravel the mystery, Isabelle will need a few more clues. Join her on the journey as she meets a stranger, takes a surprise field trip, and hears a most unusual secret. Along the way, Isabelle learns to see things she’s never seen before.

Lucas goes to the perfect school in the perfect neighborhood. But life at home is not so perfect. His dad’s old work truck stalls in front of the school. The electricity is out when he gets home, and he doesn’t even have time to show his mom his report (on which he received a perfect score) before she rushes off to her night job. That night, Lucas dreams of a strange light, which he follows down the fire escape, into the alleyway, clear out of his neighborhood, all the way to the place where the perfect people live.

Otello is South America’s star soccer player and has just signed a deal to play for a team in the southern part of his country, a region with a history of racism toward black northerners like Otello. Desmerelda is a white pop star and the daughter of a right-wing politician. Their sudden and controversial marriage propels them to center stage, where they burn under the media spotlight. But celebrity attracts enemies -  some very close to home. When a young girl is found murdered, Paul Faustino, veteran soccer reporter for La Nación, witnesses the power of the media in making - and breaking -  lives.

Everything Aoife thought she knew about the world was a lie. There is no Necrovirus. And Aoife isn't going to succomb to madness because of a latent strain - she will lose her faculties because she is allergic to iron. Aoife isn't human. She is a changeling - half human and half from the land of Thorn. And time is running out for her. When Aoife destroyed the Lovecraft engine she released the monsters from the Thorn Lands into the Iron Lands and now she must find a way to seal the gates and reverse the destruction she's ravaged on the world that's about to poison her.

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.

Following a devastating betrayal, Beth Bradley, a sixteen-year-old graffiti artist, is suspended from school. Running from a home that she shares with her father who has never recovered after Beth's mother's death, Beth stumbles into the hidden city and meets Filius Viae, London's asphalt-hued crown prince. And her timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Two boys. One identity. He can change his life if he says yes. An explosive new mystery from the award-winning author Jenny Valentine, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight is the story of a boy who assumes the identity of a missing teenager and in-so-doing unearths a series of shattering family secrets – and the truth about who he really is.

Blink, man, what were you thinking? Sneaking into the hotel for a hot breakfast  -  hot scraps of someone else’s breakfast, really. Couldn’t you just feel  that it was a wrong place/wrong time scenario? Even before you heard the banging and saw those dudes in suits jet it out of room 1616? Now you’re not only witness to a crime; you’re linked to it, thanks to the smartphone you were stupid enough to jack from the room. And then there’s Caution. As in “Caution: Contents Under Pressure.” She’s also on the run, from a skeezy drug-dealer boyfriend and from a nightmare in her past that won’t let her go.

What do you do with your last day on Earth? There are 27 hours and 15 minutes left until a meteor strikes North America, and for Emerson and everyone else who didn't leave, the world will end. But Emerson's world already ended when she ran away from home last year. Since then she has lived on the streets, relying on her wits and her friend, Vince, to help her find places to sleep and food to eat.

Joseph’s sophomore year is about to begin, but his new start is a false one. At his father’s request, Joseph has moved in with his aunt and uncle to avoid the toxic environment surrounding his drug-addicted mother. But efforts to keep Joseph safe have tragic results for the family. When their community is shattered, Joseph must contend with his own grief, his mother’s persistent pleas for money, and the distance between himself and his father, stationed in Iraq - not to mention schoolwork, making the tennis team, and a new relationship.

"Il s'appelle Tristan. Elle s'appelle Camille. Ils ont trente ans... à eux deux. Ils vont s'aimer follement, puis mourir trop tôt, sans doute d'avoir trop aimé. Ces deux héros et leur petit garçon, Alexis, m'accompagnent depuis mes 17 ans."

Pen's life is about secrets: the secret of the city's spirits, deities and monsters, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of Pen's intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly; and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror.

Abby doesn’t remember what happened the night she woke up in soot-stained clothes, lying next to a burning building with an unfamiliar boy at her side. But her connection with Sam is immediate and intense. And she has no one else: no family, no home, not even a last name. She and Sam start a new life, just the two of them, and Abby’s deliriously happy - until memories from her past begin to haunt her. And suddenly everything she’s learned to love turns sinister....

When Georgie Kendrick wakes up after a heart transplant she feels...different. The organ beating in her chest isn't in tune with the rest of her body. Like it still belongs to someone else. Someone with terrible memories...memories that are slowly replacing her own. Georgie discovers her heart belonged to a teenage girl who lived a rough life on the streets. Everyone thinks she committed suicide, but only Georgie knows the truth. And now Georgie has to catch a killer--before she loses herself completely.

En esta obra, de corte histórico, que se sitúa a mediados del siglo XVI. El parecido físico permite a Tom Canty, un niño pobre y soñador, suplantar al príncipe Eduardo, que se aburre en palacio. De este modo, el príncipe, mezclado con el pueblo, conoce las injusticias cometidas por su gobierno. Pero ¿qué ocurrirá cuando quiera recuperar su identidad y reparar sus errores?

La estatua del Príncipe Feliz estaba cubierta por hojas de oro, sus ojos eran dos zafiros, y tenía un rubí en el puño de su espada. Una noche llegó a la ciudad una golondrina, y al posarse en la estatua vio que esta lloraba, porque desde lo alto podía ver toda la miseria de su ciudad. Entonces decidió quedarse un poco más para ser su mensajera, a pesar de que sus amigas ya habían partido para Egipto y de que cada vez hacía más frío.

When a serious illness strikes Lucy's mother, Lucy has to grow up faster than she expected. As the illness gets worse and money gets tighter, even a school trip - which Lucy hoped would give her a break from home - seems out of reach. Out of frustration and desperation, Lucy starts selling her mom's medical marijuana. But she's not exactly an experienced dealer. And when Lucy gets busted, she has some serious explaining to do - to school authorities, to the police, and to her mom.