Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves,...

The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent...

Outlaws of the Brasada: conditions are so harsh in Texas after the Civil War and with Reconstructionists imposing even harsher restrictions, Emery Bandine is desperate to protect his motherless children and gather a stake to get them out of poverty no matter what he has to do.

Joe is used to living on shaky ground. His mom leaves whenever she gets "the itch," and now he and his grandmum have ad to downsize and still can't keep up with the bills. But Joe takes comfort from comic book superheroes because they face a lot of "and then, BOOM!" moments where the odds are stacked against them and they somehow survive. Then an unimaginable BOOM strikes, leaving Joe to fend for himself. The electricity gets shut off, and with the...

Despite their own poverty since Daddy died, Mama tells nine-year-old James Otis they need to help Sarah, whose family lost everything in a fire.

Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog Sounder.

Based on a true story, tells of how a poor Ghanaian boy buys a chicken through a community loan program, which eventually helps lift him, his mother, and his community out of poverty.

Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.

Growing up in the inner-city projects, DeShawn is reluctantly forced into the gang world by circumstances beyond his control.