Central Kansas Library System

Willow and Mason, two teens who are unceremoniously dragged to Salem, Massachusetts for the summer, meet and help each other figure out their places in the world. Willow has never felt like she belonged anywhere and is convinced that the only way to find a true home is to travel the world. But her plans to act on her dream are put on hold when her aloof and often absent mother drags Willow to Salem, Massachusetts, to wrap up the affairs of an aunt...

"Siblings Ira and Zac know the foster system inside and out, but it's only when they are sent to Skilly House, a children's care home in London, that their lives truly start to change"--

Twelve-year-old Jack and his younger sister visit Mesa Verde National Park, where they delve into the park's history while gradually uncovering the mysterious past of their family's teenage foster child Lucky.

Dumped by her possible boyfriend at a drive-in theater, Katie returns home to find that her mother, a former convict and current addict, wants to take her away from her foster family, friends, and church, and Katie must make important decisions as she considers what family and home really mean.

When their mother abandons them and their father ends up in jail again, ten-year-old Sara and her mentally troubled sister are thrust back into the foster care system.

Foster children Andi and Bruce have been placed with a flaky couple who care more for their aspiring rock careers than their charges. Their mischievous tendencies repeatedly get them into trouble. After a close call with the local pound, the kids end up searching for Friday, their secretly adopted dog, in an abandoned old hotel where they find several other stray dogs seeking shelter. They, along with three other local kids, begin caring for the strays....

Eight-year-old Jennifer Jordan-Wong describes her adoption by a family after four years of living as a foster child with many different families.

David Pelzer, victim of one of the worst child abuse cases in the history of California, tells the story of how he survived his mother's brutality and triumphed over his past.

"Riders on the Orphan Train is a novel about a little-known piece of American history. Bewteen 1854 and 1929, over 250,000 orphans and 'surrendered' children were 'placed out' across the country. They started their journey in New York and were given away in train stations in every state in the continental United States. This is the story of two children from very different backgrounds, Ezra Duval and Elizabeth Farrell, who find themselves on the same...