single-parent families

Thirteen-year-old Alice, not quite a woman and no longer a child, finds that growing up has its disadvantages as well as advantages.

Seventh-grader Alice discovers that turning thirteen will make her the woman of the house, so she devises a plan to get more appreciation from her father and older brother.

Emily, Trellis, and Vigo visit Algos Island, where they can access and enter lost memories. They're hoping to uncover the events of Trellis's mysterious childhood-knowledge they can use against the Elf King. What they discover is a dark secret that changes everything. Meanwhile, the Voice of Emily's Amulet is getting stronger, and threatens to overtake her completely.

Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.

"Darkness had come to the town. Strange things were happening in the dead of night. Children would put a tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, but in the morning they would wake up to find...a dead slug, a live spider, hundreds of earwigs creeping and crawling beneath their pillow. Evil was at work. But who or what was behind it...?"--Back cover.

Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood.

An exploration of family breakups that provides information and personal accounts designed to reassure readers that broken homes are not necessarily negative and encourage discussion about related topics and feelings.

Children describe their own families and explain concepts like "birth mom," "mixed race," "gay and lesbian," and "stepdad.".

Music entwines Kira, a thirteen-year-old singer who hates that her father makes her perform for money on New York City subway platforms; Eugene, the class clown; and Jake, who longs to sing and to approach Kira, but feels held back by his stuttering.

Fourteen-year-old sarcastic, street-savvy Nick is drawn into the world of the Dark-Hunters, but must hide his participation in the battle against werewolves, vampires, and zombies from his mother and high school principal.