dysfunctional families

Alex Blackwood is really good at getting the girl she wants, but coming from a broken home with an alcoholic mother she finds committment difficult, even when she thinks she is in love; impossibly awkward Molly Parker has a crush on the cool Cora Myers, but she does not know how to even start a conversation, much less make a connection; now they are all at college in Pittsburgh Alex decides to "help" Molly get the girl, while proving to her own flame that she is not just totally selfish--but things do not work out as the two have planned.

"Explores how family conflicts and changes can affect every part of a teen's life, from school performance to social interactions to mental health. The title examines the history of family structures, types of family conflict, and both the negative and positive outcomes of family changes"--Provided by publisher.

"A coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of an eleven-year-old over the course of a single summer, as she tries to make sense of her new life with her estranged grandfather and sister after the death of her father and disappearance of her mother"--Provided by publisher.

The upper-crust Casey family, Johnny, Ed, and Liam and their wives and children stay in touch through regular family celebrations, organized and fostered by Johnny's wife Jessie, who insists everyone is happy. When Ed's wife Cara suffers a concussion and begins compulsively sharing family secrets at a gathering, the Caseys' perfect facades begin to crumble and they're forced to face their realities.

In a small Alabama town, high school seniors Asa and Ezmita, both with troubled families and dreams of leaving home to attend college, find comfort in their blossoming friendship.

Future interior designer Maggie, a sixth-grader, focuses on an upcoming design contest to cope with friendship and family troubles, including having Tony, a half-brother she never knew existed, move in.

"Allison is drowning under the weight of her manipulative stage magician father. When he brings home the family's first computer, she escapes into a thrilling new world where she meetings Samir, a like-minded new online friend who has just agreed to run away from home with her. After moving to a new town and leaving all of his friends behind, Richard receives a mysterious note in his locker with instructions on how to connect to 'Evol BBS,' a dial-in bulletin board system, and meets a fierce punk named Tina who comes into his life and shakes his entire worldview loose. Unlikely alliances, first love, and minor crime sprees abound in this . . . graphic novel debut about making connections while your world is falling apart"--Amazon.

"A mixed-heritage dancer's coming of age within the African diaspora is shaped by abuse at the hands of a cousin, her mother's descent into addiction, and her father's efforts to create a Nigerian-inspired home in America"--Provided by publisher.

"Underprivileged and keenly self-aware, SoCal fourteen-year-old Layla Bailey isn't used to being noticed. Except by mean girls who tweet about her ragged appearance. All she wants to do is indulge in her love of science, protect her vulnerable younger brother, and steer clear of her unstable mother. Then a school competition calls for a biome. Layla chooses her own home, a hostile ecosystem of indoor fungi and secret shame. With a borrowed video camera, she captures it all. The mushrooms growing in her brother's dresser. The black mold blooming up the apartment walls. The unmentionable things living in the dead fridge. All the inevitable exotic toxins that are Layla's life. Then the video goes viral. When Child Protective Services comes to call, Layla loses her family and her home. Defiant, she must face her bullies and friends alike, on her own. Unafraid at last of being seen, Layla accepts the mortifying reality of visibility. Now she has to figure out how to stay whole and stand behind the truth she has shown the world"--OCLC.

Eigthteen-year-old Debbie White has lived a sheltered life on her family's rural dairy farm with her mentally unstable mother and alcoholic uncle. But everything changes when Debbie is accepted into Trinity College Dublin and begins commuting to classes a few days a week. As Debbie's worldview starts to expand, she starts to pull away from her life at home. But when a terrible accident strikes the farm, her life is upended in ways she never would have expected.