Depicts a jury of men who must decide the fate of a teenage boy who has murdered his abusive father. The jurors are from all walks of life, and bring with them their own opinions, prejudices, fears, and personal demons.

Becoming Anna is the poignant memoir of the first sixteen years in the life of Anna Michener, a young woman who fought a painful battle against her abusive family. Labeled "crazy girl" for much of her childhood, Anna suffered physical and emotional damage at the hands of the adults who were supposed to love and protect her. Committed to various mental institutions by her family, at sixteen Anna was finally able to escape her chaotic home life and...

When a seductive voice lures Jane, a changeling, from the factory where she's always worked, she enters a world of malls and machines where she'll never truly belong.

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer...

A novel in verse follows the experiences of fourteen-year-old Lilly, as an innocent flirtation turns into sexual abuse by a friend of her parents and she is tormented by her abuser's threat to ruin her family and her own desperate need for help. Lily was only twelve when Luke left. Now, at fourteen, she feels transformed. She can't wait to see how Luke will react when he sees the new her. And when her mother tells her that Luke will be staying with...

A man and his estranged nephew become the guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Their rivals intend to kidnap the girls while the two are delivering a herd of horses.

Fed up with her abusive family situation, lack of school prospects and the "boys' law" in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang. When her home situation becomes unbearable, Marieme seeks solace in an older man who promises her money and protection. Realizing this sort of lifestyle will never...

Growing up, Mallory "Mouse" Dodge learned that the best way to survive was to say nothing. After she escaped her terrifying childhood and spent years being homeschooled by loving adoptive parents, she is starting her senior year at a public high school. The first day, she runs into Rider Stark, the friend and protector from her childhood, and Mallory realizes that their bond never really faded. But as Rider's life spirals out of control, Mallory faces...

"In 1970s Mississippi, sixteen-year-old Cissy Pickering calmly and deliberately shot her father. She claimed it was the only way she could protect her sisters from experiencing the same abuse she had suffered for years. Her mother refuses to believe her, but her grandmother, despite her own failing health, takes it upon herself to become Cissy's advocate and rescuer"--