Title: Almost Home
Author: Blank, Jessica
Publisher: Hyperion Books (2007)
ISBN: 1423106423
Notes: This novel about seven runaway teens struggling to get by on the Hollywood streets is full of candor. The self-formed family is full of dysfunction, love, belonging, abuse, and betrayal—most of the kids have fled abusive homes. Each chapter is narrated in a different character’s voice, which provides a gritty look at their lives on the streets.

Title: Money Hungry
Author: Flake, Sharon G.
Publisher: Jump at the Sun (2007)
ISBN: 1423103866
Notes: A Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Money Hungry follows 13-year-old Raspberry, who is determined that she and her mother will never be homeless again. Raspberry is obsessed with money—the more she has, the safer she feels. But little by little, her world starts crumbling. Everything from their apartment in the projects is stolen and protests from rich neighbors force Raspberry and her mother out of their apartment. The two work together to find a solution as Raspberry faces questions in her life.

Title: Believe
Author: Hajjar Dembkoski, Kacey
Publisher: iUniverse (2004)
ISBN: 0595305490
Notes: Believe tells the story of a young homeless girl who has been abandoned and struggles to find hope in her trying existence. She encounters many people along her soul-searching journey, and finds the strength to persevere.

Title: Tomorrow, Maybe
Author: James, Brian
Publisher: Push (2003)
ISBN: 0439490359
256 pgs.
Notes: Gretchen is a 15-year-old runaway living who has been living on the streets for two years, ever since her father married an abusive woman. When an 11-year-old girl shows up at the building Gretchen and her acquaintances are squatting, the older girl takes her under her wing. The two begin saving money, but their plans quickly unravel during a frightening turn of events. In the end, Gretchen turns to her father.

Title: 33 Snowfish
Author: Rapp, Adam
Publisher: Candlewick Press (2006)
ISBN: 0763618748
Notes: Rapp presents a chilling story that hurtles readers into the world of lost children who, despite their trouble pasts, struggle to find a new life for themselves. Three young teens, with problems ranging from drug addiction and prostitution to pyromania and racism, travel in a stolen car with an infant boy in this shockingly realistic yet fictional novel.

Title: Can't Get There From Here
Author: Strasser, Todd
Publisher: Simon Pulse (2005)
ISBN: 0689841698
208 pgs.
Notes: This book follows the journeys of a group of homeless teenagers living on the streets of New York City. Police sweeps, drugs, and illnesses are all highlighted in this destitute tale of life on the street. Anthony, a kind librarian, becomes a hero to the group, helping a 12-year-old girl reunite with her grandparents.

Title: Sketches
Author: Walters, Eric
Publisher: Viking Juvenile (2008)
ISBN: 0670062944
232 pgs.
Notes: Dana, a 14-year-old girl, has been on the run and homeless in Toronto for almost a month. She and her new friends Ashley and Brent battle cold weather, rain, hunger, and dangerous homeless kids. After discovering Sketches, a drop-in art center for homeless youth, Dana begins to learn how earn her own money through art. Later, she convinces her friends that they, too, can find legal and sustaining paths away from street life. The book is based on the real Toronto nonprofit, Sketch.