child abuse

Adam, a high school senior who works as an aide to the school's psychologist, is reunited with Julian, a foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. As the boys grow close once again, Adam realizes Julian is hiding a dangerous secret, and when Adam tries to help Julian, he puts them both at risk.

A fictionalized account of the Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went on to help liberate other children like him before being gunned down at the age of thirteen.

June is physically and emotionally abused by her stepmother, and the only person June feels safe telling is her friend Blister, who helps her believe she can escape the situation. But when a shocking tragedy occurs, June finds herself trapped.

To avoid the violence of her stepfather, Vienna Fleury and her mother run away to a new city with no money and no where to go. As they begin to get their life back, Vienna enrolls in a new high school to finish her senior year. She even joins the grad committee. But Duncan finds Vienna and demands to know where her mother is.

When Rev Fletcher and Emma Blue meet, they both long to share secrets, his of being abused by his birth father, hers of her parents' failing marriage and an online troll who truly frightens her.

Thirteen-year-old Dellie is overcome with guilt and grief when her brother dies, but when she finds herself at odds with her best friend, Dellie reaches out to a neglected boy who lives in her building in the projects and learns how to have faith in herself from a new neighbor.

"In the middle of the night . . . in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis's parents and load him into a black SUV . . . Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there's no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents--telekinesis and telepathy--who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, 'like the roachmotel,' Kalisha says. 'You check in, but you don't check out.' In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don't, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute"--Provided by publisher.

"As a teen, Anna Qu is sent by her mother to work in her family's garment factory in Queens. At home, she is treated as a maid and suffers punishment for doing her homework at night. Her mother wants to teach her a lesson: she is Chinese, not American, and such is their tough path in their new country. But instead of acquiescing, Qu alerts the Office of Children and Family Services, an act with consequences that impact the rest of her life"--Provided by publisher.

"Ezra Ahern wakes up one day to find his older sister, Bea, gone. No note, no sign, nothing but an email address hidden somewhere only he would find it. Ezra never expected to be left behind with their abusive stepfather and their neglectful mother, how is he supposed to navigate life without Bea? Bea Ahern already knew sh eneeded to get as far away from home as possible. But a message in her inbox changes everything, and she finds herself alone in a new city, without Ez, without a real plan, chasing someone who might not even want to be found. As things unravel at home for Ezra, Bea must confront secrets that will forever change the way they feel about their family. Although they may not be together in the present, they must help each other navigate the past in order to make their way to a better, safer future"--Dust jacket.

After fifteen years of horrific abuse and neglect by her mother and her mother's boyfriends, Joy struggles to understand and accept a normal life with relatives, at school, and with a boyfriend.