Poverty Fiction

Laurel would do anything to turn back time - to tell her mother and grandmother not to stay home near the beach with a hurricane coming, to say no when her boyfriend, T-Boom, the co-captain of the basketball team, offers her that first hit of moon -the drug that makes her feel bigger than all she’s lost, to have been there for her little brother and her best friend, Kaylee, when they needed her, instead of chasing the moon - But she can't. All she can do is move forward now. And only she can decide whether to face the pain and joy that is a part of living, or follow the moon to numbness and probably death.

One of Barbara Ehrenreich's most classic and prophetic works, Fear of Falling closely examines the insecurities of the American middle class in an attempt to explain its turn to the right during the last two decades of the 20th century. Weaving finely-tuned expert analysis with her trademark voice, Ehrenreich traces the myths about the middle class to their roots, determines what led to the shrinking of what was once a healthy percentage of the population, and how, in its ambition and anxiety, that population has retreated from responsible leadership.

A gripping new novel in verse by the author of the Printz Honor-winning Starfish, featuring a poverty-stricken boy who bravely rides out all the storms life keeps throwing at him.

I’m not just Allie Grace anymore. A beast slumbers beneath the surface of my skin. I have new urges and impulses. Not to mention a hot temper that flares up at the slightest provocation. But that’s not all - apparently, I’m also mated. It’s like a part of my soul has been sucked out, cleaved in two, and deposited into Jared and Clay. The strange otherworldly force tying us together is all but impossible to ignore. I try my best, though. At least until other packs catch wind of the new wolf in Forest Grove. The one who has not yet chosen her pack.

Sweet Potato Jones has been on the move her entire life—toting her siblings from one abandoned train car to the next, following her father’s broken dreams, and trying not to hope for more. But when they land a spot at The Home, a Christian shelter that offers families just twenty weeks before the clock runs out, Sweet Potato dares to believe this might be different. Still, she’s not expecting Soul Food... Not the kind you eat—though collards and hoecakes come with the deal—but the kind that changes everything. The kind served up in a purpled-up diner, run by a faith-filled woman ...

Caitlin can't afford to leave this dreamland, this half-sleeping state where everything and everyone can be kept at arm's length. Because then she'd have to face the ugly truth about her relationship with Rogerson: magnetic, fascinating--and very dangerous--Rogerson. What is it about Rogerson Biscoe...and why can't she leave him?

Nick Gautier is tired of his destiny. He doesn't want to be the son of a demon who's fated to end the world. Nor does he want to see another demon or other preternatural creature who wants to kill or enslave him. He just wants to be normal and have normal problems like everyone else. But normality isn't all it's cracked up to be. When he gets sucked into an alternate reality where his mother has married his mentor and his Atlantean god best friend has become a human geek, he begins to understand that no life is free of pain, and that every person has a specific place in the universe.

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock - with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him. But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams - and his life - for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

For 11-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. With the darkness of night as cover, they flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer. But Gopal has been deceived. There is no factory, just a small, stuffy sweatshop where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded frames for no money and little food.

Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin. That is, when he's in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. But now he's going to be attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan, and black teenage boys don't exactly fit in there. So it's a surprise when he meets Ellie the first week of school. In one frozen moment their eyes lock, and after that they know they fit together - even though she's Jewish and he's black.

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait - for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster - all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

An enthralling Christmas read from bestselling saga author, Lynette Rees! As the snow falls and church bells ring out, Angeline's family find themselves in a heart breaking situation...The story begins on Christmas eve when Angeline Barker's father has taken the family carol singing on the streets. It's snowing heavily and Angeline's mother, a former musical hall star, is ill with a persistent cough. Being forced to sing on the streets is not what the children want to do because they realise any takings will go straight into their father's pockets and not into the family coffers! As if ...

The Cripple Creek Mining District Series is a fact-based accounting of the discovery and early development of the gold fields in and around Cripple Creek, Colorado. Poverty Gulch tells the true story of how that gold was first discovered. History tells us that the town started out as nothing more than a small scattering of false-fronted structures that was initially known as Fremont. During its heyday, at the turn of the century, some folks say it had grown to right around fifty-thousand hardy souls. It lies nestled in a picturesque little valley that is located in the central Colorado ...

Twelve-year-old Zola thinks she has the perfect life. She thinks everyone does, now that it’s 2193, and humanity has solved all its problems. Insta-Closets deliver new clothes every morning, Insta-Ovens deliver gourmet meals on demand, and virtual reality goggles let her have any adventure she wants, with friends from all over the world. Then one day Zola finds a handwritten note in her Insta-Closet: If you want to see things as they really are, come find me. What if Zola’s wrong about everything—even the year?

A small prison cell in India holds an 18-year-old penniless waiter from a Mumbai slum. But Ram Mohammad Thomas isn't a criminal. He is under arrest for correctly answering 12 tricky trivia questions on the show Who Will Win a Billion? Reluctant to part with the jackpot of one billion rupees, the show directors bribe the police to arrest Ram, accusing him of cheating.

Max is back with a thrilling new adventure that involves time travel, creepy bad guys, killer drones, and a shocking mystery about her past that she will stop at nothing to solve! Under constant danger of being kidnapped by the shadowy Corporation, Max is on the run from New York to London and beyond. But soon the call comes for the Change Maker kids' next mission: make sure no kid ever goes hungry again! If anyone can tackle a problem this big, Max and her genius friends can.

After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her dreams of a college scholarship and pro basketball career vanish in an instant. To avoid becoming another Black teen trapped in her poverty-stricken neighborhood, she shifts her focus to the school's STEM team. Academics have never been her thing, but Alexis is motivated by Aamani Chakrabarti, the new Indian student who becomes her friend (and crush?). Alexis begins to see herself as so much more than an athlete. But as her future starts to reform, Alexis's own doubts and old loyalties pull her back into harm's way.

A Tragic Fiction set in Corsica and Paris during the late 19th to early 20th century. Immerse yourself in *Broken Promises*, a heart-wrenching tale that traces the intersecting lives of courageous individuals navigating the unrelenting challenges of poverty, societal oppression, and the quest for love and identity. This evocative narrative paints a vivid picture of Corsica's rugged landscape and Paris's rapidly evolving scenery at the turn of the 20th century. The journey begins with Margot, a resilient young girl entangled in the domestic turmoil of her abusive, alcohol-dependent mother, ...

Meet Rico: high school senior and afternoon-shift cashier at the Gas 'n' Go, who after school and work races home to take care of her younger brother. Every. Single. Day. When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she—with some assistance from her popular and wildly rich classmate Zan—can find the ticket holder who hasn't claimed the prize. But what happens when have and have-nots collide? Will this investigative duo unite...or divide?

Little Women is the story of a wife and her four daughters living in genteel poverty in the environs of Boston while the father is away as a chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War.