Theme: Child abuse

Nicholas Dane

By Book Importer | Published: February 15, 2011

When fourteen-year-old Nicholas Dane’s mother dies, social services sends him to a home for boys where intimidation and violence keep order. After a number of fights and brutal punishments, Nick thinks that life can’t possibly get any worse . . . until he realizes that the home’s respected deputy head, who has been grooming him [...]

Descriptors: England (UK), Rhymes/songs, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Little Blue House

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

In a very small town in rural Argentina there is a magical house. The house is vacant and has been for as long as anyone can remember, but once a year, at midnight, the house turns blue, and 24 hours later it turns back to white again. Twelve-year-old Cintia lives with her father, an angry [...]

Descriptors: Argentina, Intermediate (ages 9-14), Latin America, Realistic Fiction » Other Themes: , , , , , » Leave a comment

The Year the Gypsies Came

By Yoo Kyung Sung | Published: December 1, 2008

Set in apartheid 1960s South Africa, twelve-year-old Emily Iris explains that her mother and father have always been eager to take in travelers and vagabonds, relying on the presence of outsiders to ease the tension between them. Emily has her gentle older sister, Sarah, and Buza, the old Zulu nightwatchman, for company and comfort. But her [...]

Descriptors: Historical Fiction, South Africa, Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: , , , , » Leave a comment

The Owl Service

By Kathy G. Short | Published: March 14, 2007

During a summer vacation in a secluded Welsh valley, three young people find themselves driven by the spirits of three mythical lovers to reenact an ancient tragedy.

Descriptors: Europe, Fiction, Wales (UK), Young Adult (ages 14-18) » Other Themes: » Comments closed