NCW Libraries

Depending on an older sister who protected her when their mother went to prison and their mother's boyfriend committed a terrible act, 10-year-old Della tries to figure out what to do when her older sister attempts suicide. "Ten-year-old Della can rely on her older sister, Suki, for anything, but when Suki attempts suicide, Della must seek help and speak out about the sexual abuse they've both suffered at the hands of their mother's boyfriend"--...

Meet Ginny Moon. She's mostly your average teenager--she plays flute in the high school band, has weekly basketball practice, and reads Robert Frost poems in English class. But Ginny is autistic. And so what's important to her might seem a bit... different: starting every day with exactly nine grapes for breakfast, Michael Jackson, her baby doll, and crafting a secret plan of escape. After being traumatically taken from her abusive birth mother and...

"I remember when I thought my life would be like the fairy tales I read about. I'd do anything to go back in time when everything was so simple. When my knight in shining armor had a face and a name. When my biggest secret was that I snuck out at night to watch the stars. I'm worried that there's a sickness in me, swallowing me whole. I don't understand what's happening to me. I don't understand why the only person I can find solace in is someone...

"Mel Smith has always known life isn't easy. After all, she was abandoned as an infant and raised in foster care. But still, when the only bright spot in her life, her best friend Sarah Ross, unexpectedly dies, it's a heartbreak unlike any other. A final promise to lay Sarah to rest in the Ross wildwood garden draws Mel to Morgan's Gap, a small town nestled in the shadows of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet Morgan's Gap is more than a land of morning...

Once upon a time, my name was Summer Brooks. I fell in love with a prince and my dreams went as far as the stars. I had my whole life figured out. I had my whole life in front of me. But my life wasn't meant to be a fairy tale. Everything I knew was taken away in a flash. Broken. Lost. Abandoned. Beaten. Ten years of pain. Ten years of torture. I'm finally free. But I'm not Summer Brooks anymore. That girl died as soon as the devil himself put his...

Eleven-year-old Danny Monteverde believes in magic, he believes that the enchanted land of Rio Luna in his older sister's favorite book is real, and most of all he believes that if he can find the way to Rio Luna he will find his sister Pili there, because he does not believe that his sister would run away from the group home where they lived and leave him behind; but after years of being passed from one foster family to another his faith begins to...

Unanswered questions have plagued Kentucky Kunningberg-Washington for years, ever since her parents' mysterious death in a plane crash when she was eight years old. The only answer to Kentucky's questions seems to be the small bronze key her mother entrusted to her before she died. However, Kentucky promised she would wait to investigate the key in her mother's hometown when she turned eighteen. So Kentucky spent years shuffled with her siblings around...

"A TINY UPWARD SHOVE is a fictionalized account of real life Canadian serial killer Willie Pickton and his final victim. In the debut novel of award-winning essayist, Melissa Chadburn, we follow the life of Filipina foster youth Marina Salles and are submerged in the confluence of violence and empathy, fabulism and realism. A story of how both victim and monster emerge from the same world"-- Marina Salles's life does not end the day she wakes up...

"Miriam and Calvin Gingerich have been trying for a baby for several years, but the Lord hasn't seen fit to bless them. Though Calvin claims he's content with their childless state, Miriam knows he's not, and when he starts spending more time off their farm, she worries he's found someone else. But just as she finds herself at her lowest point, she discovers the ultimate surprise. Unable to confide in anyone who might tell Calvin--out of fear she'll...

"From the New York Times bestselling author of Beach Colors and Breakwater Bay comes this heartwarming story of love, family, and redemption. Two young girls pledged to be best friends forever. Separated by circumstance and hurt, they are reunited years later as they struggle to put their differences aside for the sake of a special little girl--perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah, Elin Hilderbrand, and Karen White. One woman struggling to hold on to...