single-parent families

Contest-crazed twelve-year-old Ben uses his wits and way with words in hopes of winning a prize that will keep his family from being evicted until his mother can pass her final CPA examination.

"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...?"--Dust jacket.

Abandoned by her mother at the age of four, Nico Cavan has been lost for years. She copes by staying under the radar at school. And when she uncovers some details about her mother, she's left chasing the wild idea that Kurt Cobain might be her real father, and better yet, he might still be alive. Set on the idea, she runs away and finds herself in a situation she needs saving from, but she might be the only one capable of saving herself.

Shelby Cooper, nearly eighteen, has been overprotected by her single mother all her life but after a car accident, Shelby's mother steals her away from the hospital, revealing that Shelby's father is not dead, but rather a violent man who promised to hunt them down.

Follows eleven-year-old Masha and her "evil genius" little sister, Sunny, through one very adventurous day, as Masha faces scary situations, meets new people, and gains new insight into life with her hardworking, single mother.

"Ashley is offered the chance to have weight-loss surgery by her exacting grandmother, who promises to provide tuition to her dream college in return"--Provided by publisher.

Just as sixteen-year-old Josie and her mother finally begin trusting men enough to start dating seriously, the father Josie never knew comes back to town and shakes up what was already becoming a difficult mother-daughter relationship.

"Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can't afford to pay for. That's Jess's life in a nutshell-until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess's knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean"--Provided by publisher.

Mallory and Jared attempt to rescue Simon from goblins using a magical stone which enables them to see things that are normally invisible.