As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

Francesca Dunn is an adolescent like any other, trying to figure out her place in the world. One night Chester a homeless man, sees Francesca hovering over the river, bathed in celestial light. Days later, as Francesca serves meals to the needy, Chester falls to his knees before her in adoration. Word spreads, hordes of followers converge, and the result is a catastrophic storm of fervent belief and doubt, the relentless and perpetual desire for salvation,...

"Sigrid is still reeling from the untimely death of her lover, acclaimed painter Oscar Nauman, when she is called to investigate the deaths of two homeless men in the West Village. The police at first assume an overdose, until they realize that one of the men shows no signs of drug use. Then when containers of poisoned takeout food are found nearby, Sigrid's case is suddenly much more complicated ..."--Dust jacket.

Sixteen-year-old Tina and two friends leave Kenya and slip into the Congo, from where she and her mother fled years before, seeking revenge for her mother's murder but uncovering startling secrets.

"Josie has a secret: her mother is a hoarder. Tasha has a secret, too: her mother's new boyfriend keeps trying to sneak into her room and seduce her. The two 16-year-olds don't get along at school, but one night Tasha bolts from her dangerous home and finds herself at Josie's door. Josie's mother is in jail for debt, and the girls are alone in the cramped, crowded, bursting home. Slowly, they begin to talk about the challenges they face, a process...

"Mr. Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well... Chloe sees Mr. Stink every day, but she's never spoken to him. Which isn't surprising, because he's a tramp, and he stinks. But there's more to Mr. Stink than meets the eye (or nose) and before she knows it, Chloe has an unusual new friend hiding in her garden shed. As Chloe struggles to keep Mr. Stink a secret, and her dad tries to hide a...

"When Dan and his parents can no longer pay their mortgage, they end up homeless and living in a local tent city. It's a bad situation, and it only gets worse when the leader of the tent city is brutally beaten. Who is trying to shut down the tent city, and why?"--

"After the loss of her father and home, twelve-year-old Nora lives with her mother in Manila's North Cemetery but then her mother disappears, sending Nora on a dangerous quest to find her." --

In nineteenth-century England, after her father's disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a "climbing boy," aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.--