While under house arrest for one year for stealing a wallet, young Timothy keeps free-verse notes on his life in a court-ordered journal as he deals with having a sick brother and tries to stay out of trouble.

The lives of Jason Wilder and Meili Wen intersect in the delinquent-proof room for in-school suspension, known as the Rubber Room, and Jason's growing, fierce protectiveness of Meili explodes into violence when her chance to return to her wealthy lifestyle in Hong Kong--and his opportunity to escape poverty, loneliness, and the past--is threatened.--

A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage.

"Fourteen-year-old Jack falls under the spell of a delinquent Florida neighbor and gets way more trouble than he bargained for"--

"After surviving a desperate childhood of lawlessness and violence, Alfred Olyontombo makes his way to a refugee camp while Rwanda's genocide rages behind him. His knowledge of local languages catches the attention of an idealistic young doctor who opens the door to a whole new life for Alfred. Seizing the chance, he moves forward, embracing the American dream and becoming a respected physician married to a successful lawyer in Colorado. However,...

After being caught stealing one too many times, Benjamin Waterfalls is sent to a "boot camp" at the Ojibwe reservation where he searches for answers as he tries to turn his life around and embrace this second chance.

"The Austins are trying to settle into their new life in New York City, but their once close-knit family is pulling away from each other. Their father spends long hours alone in his study working on the research project that brought the family to the city. John is away at college. Rob is making friends with people in the neighborhood: newspaper vendors, dog walkers, even the local rabbi. Suzy is blossoming into a vivacious young woman. And Vicky has...

As further evidence of his family's bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.