Good Reads - Abuse/Violence

Wamego High School's

Library Media Center

Good Reads

ABUSE/VIOLENCE

Fiction   \ Nonfiction

FICTION

The following books can be found in the Fiction collection, shelved by the first three letters of the author's last name, e.g., F BAR.

Adoff, Jaime. The death of Jayson Porter. [2008].

In the Florida projects, sixteen-year-old Jayson struggles with the harsh realities of his life which include an abusive mother, drug-addicted father, and not fitting in at his predominately white school, and bring him to the brink of suicide.

Alphin, Elaine Marie. Counterfeit son.

When serial killer Hank Miller is killed in a shoot-out with police, his,abused son Cameron adopts the identity of one of his father's victims in order to find a better life.

Asher, Sandy. THINGS ARE SELDOM WHAT THEY SEEM.

Mr. Carraway, the handsome drama coach, has all the girls wanting to be in the school play. But when Cebbie's older sister Karen quits the play and shortly thereafter Mr. Carraway resigns, Debbie learns the truth; that Mr Carraway has molested Karen as well and her friend Maggie.

Borich, Michael. A DIFFERENT KIND OF LOVE.

When 14-year-old Elizabeth's 25-year-old uncle comes for a visit, she looks up to him as a father figure, but he sees her differently. When Uncle Nicky makes sexual advances, Elizabeth grapples with the problem of incest and confides in a trusted teacher who convinces her to tell her mother.

Brooks, Kevin. Candy. [2005].

Joe is a kid from the right side of the tracks who cares about his music and not much else - until he falls for a girl named Candy. Only what starts as puppy love turns into near obsession. Candy gets inside Joe's head and he is drawn inside her world. But it's a seedy, dangerous world - filled with drugs, violence, desperation, and the dark truth about Candy.

_____. Black Rabbit summer. [2008].

When two of sixteen-year-old Pete's childhood classmates disappear from a carnival the same night, he is a suspect, but his own investigation implicates other old friends he was with that evening--and a tough, knife-wielding enemy determined to keep him quiet.

Burgess, Melvin. Smack. [1998].

After running away from their troubled homes, two English teenagers move in with a group of squatters in the port city of Bristol and try to find ways to support their growing addiction to heroin.

Carlson, Melody. Crystal lies: a novel [2004].

Glennis Harmon lives the perfect life as the wife of a prominent city attorney and the mother of two teenage children, but her perfect world is destroyed when her son becomes addicted to drugs and her family struggles to support his recovery.

Clarke, Kathryn. The breakable vow.

After eighteen-year-old Annie becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she marries her boyfriend, but slowly realizes that he is abusive and that she must decide what she can and will do about the relationship and to keep her daughter and herself safe. Includes information on the characteristics of abusive relationships and how to end them.

Cohn, Rachel. You know where to find me. [2008].

In the wake of her cousin’s suicide, overweight and introverted seventeen-year-old Miles experiences significant changes in her relationships with her mother and father, her best friend Jamal and his family, and her cousin’s father, while gaining insights about herself, both positive and negative.

Coy, John. Crackback. [2007].

Miles barely recalls when football was fun after being sidelined by a new coach, constantly criticized by his father, and ressured by his best friend to take performance-enhancing drugs.

Crutcher, Chris. CHINESE HANDCUFFS.

Dillon likes two girls, one his brother's ex-girlfriend. While the novel focuses on Dillon and his attempts to deal with his brother's suicide, it also deals with Dillon's attempted relationships with these two girls.

___________. STOTAN!

Walter and his friends are on the varsity swim team. When they volunteer for Stotan Week, they know they are in for some tough workouts. After some grueling physical workouts, the boys endure some emotional workouts as well.

Dessen, Sarah. Lock and key: a novel. [2008].

When she is abandoned by her alcoholic mother, high school senior Ruby winds up living with Cora, the sister she has not seen for ten years, and learns about Cora's new life, what makes a family, how to allow people to help her when she needs it, and that she too has something to offer others.

Dizenzo, Patricia. WHY ME? THE STORY OF JENNY.

Jenny accepted a ride home from what appeared to be a nice boy, but his intentions become clear when he pulled into a deserted factory road and threatened her with a knife. After a long time worrying, she finally tells her parents about the rape, but finds that her waiting to tell has made the situation even more complicated.

Douglas, Lola. True confessions of a Hollywood starlet [2005].

Teen movie star Morgan Carter retreats to a small midwestern town to recuperate anonymously after an overdose and rehabilitation, recording her thoughts in a diary.

Douglas, Lola. More confessions of a Hollywood starlet: a novel. [2008].

When her true identity as a Hollywood starlet is revealed, seventeen-year-old Morgan Carter, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, must choose whether to return to her glamorous movie star existence or stick with the wholesome life, and the new love, she has found in the Midwest. Told in the form of diary entries.

Flinn, Alexandra.   Breathing underwater.

Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

Frank, E. R. Friction : a novel.

When a new girl at the private school Alex attends starts rumors about Alex's favorite teacher, Alex and her eighth-grade classmates are not sure how to act around him or with each other.

Frost, Helen. Keesha's house.

Seven teens facing such problems as pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse each describe in poetic forms what caused them to leave home and where they found home again.

Goobie, Beth. Who owns Kelly Paddik? [2003].

After attempting suicide, Kelly Paddik is sent to a "secure facility," and as she tries to find a way out, she has to come to terms with her memories of abuse.

______. Something girl. [2005].

Sophie lives in constant fear of her father, who beats her on a regular basis, until the day the beating is so severe it sends her to the hospital.

Going, Kelly. Fat kid rules the world.

Seventeen-year-old Troy, depressed, suicidal, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, gets a new perspective on life when a homeless teenager who is a genius on guitar wants Troy to be the drummer in his rock band.

Gould, Steven. Jumper. [2002].

Davy Rice, 17, lives with his drunken, brutal father in Stanville, Ohio enduring physical and mental abuse (his mother had vanished five years ago) until, one day, rather than endure another vicious beating, he finds that he's teleported himself-- "jumped"-- into the local library! Davy, afraid that his dad will find him, flees to New York, where he robs a bank by teleporting inside the vault.

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. Don't you dare read this, Mrs. Dunphrey. [1997].

In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish chronicles the changes in her life when her abusive father returns home after a two-year absence.

Hamilton, Harriet. Ribbons of the sun. [2006].

Rosa goes to the city with her father to sell the flowers they have grown, but joy turns to despair when the Indian girl realizes that her father has been forced to sell her into service as a maid.

Harmon, Michael B. The last exit to normal. [2008].

Yanked out of his city life and plunked down in a small Montana town with his newly outed father and his father's boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Ben, angry and resentful about the changed circumstances of his life, begins to notice something is not quite right with the little boy next door and determines to figure out what is going on.

Hawes, Louise. Waiting for Christopher : a novel.

Shortly after moving with her mother to Florida, a lonely, fourteen-year-old bibliophile is reminded of her infant brother who died and decides tocare for an abused, abandoned child with help from a new friend.

Henry, April. Shock point. [2008].

Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet.

Hernandez, David. Suckerpunch. [2008].

Shy, seventeen-year-old Marcus and his sixteen-year-old brother, Enrique, accompanied by two friends, drive from their home in southern California to Monterey to confront the abusive father who walked out a year earlier, and who now wants to return home.

Hoban, Julia. Acting normal. [1998].

Having had a nervous breakdown brought on by repressed memories unearthed in her acting class, eighteen-year-old Stephanie tries to recover and resume a normal life.

Hobbs, Valerie. Letting go of Bobby James, or, How I found myself of steam. [2004].

After being left by her husband at a gas station in Florida, sixteen-year-old Sally Jo Walker, also known as Jody, makes some difficult decisions and a better life for herself.

Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. A stir of bones. [2003].

After discovering the secrets that lie in an abandoned house, fourteen-year-old Susan Backstrom, with the help of some new friends, has the ability to make a safe, new life for herself.

Hopkins, Ellen. Identical. 1st ed. [2008].

Sixteen-year-old identical twin daughters of a district court judge and a candidate for the United States House of representatives, Kaeleigh and Raeanne Gardella desperately struggle with secrets that have already torn them and their family apart.

Hurwin, Davida. Circle the soul softly. [2006].

Suppressed memories of childhood sexual abuse resurface, jeopardizing fifteen-year-old Kate's relationship with her new boyfriend.

Irwin, Hadley. ABBY, MY LOVE.

While Chip sits through Abby's high school graduation, he reminisces about their friendship of the past four years. She was uncomfortable with intimacy and she finally confides in him that her father has been sexually abusing her. With Chip and his mother's help, Abby exposes her father, and Abby's mother is convinced and seeks help for all concerned.

Jacobson, Jennifer. Stained. [2005].

In Weaver Falls, New Hampshire, in 1975, seventeen-year-old Jocelyn looks for answers when her lifelong neighbor and friend, Gabe, turns up missing and she learns that, while her boyfriend has been telling everything to a priest, Gabe has been keeping terrible secrets.

Jones, Patrick. Chasing tail lights. [2007].

Seventeen-year-old Christy, sad since her father's death, ignored by her mother, and abused by her drug-dealing half-brother, finds friends who help her learn to stand up for herself and move past the old hurts and fears that are keeping her down.

Johnston, Tim. Never so green.

In Iowa in the 1970s, twelve-year-old Tex overcomes his self-consciousness about his deformed right hand to take baseball lessons from his stepfather and his tomboy stepsister, who harbors a dark secret.

Klass, David. You don't know me : a novel

Fourteen-year-old John creates alternative realities in his mind as he tries to deal with his mother's abusive boyfriend, his crush on a beautiful, but shallow classmate and other problems at school.

Koertge, Ronald. Stoner & Spaz.

A troubled youth with cerebral palsy struggles toward self-acceptance with the help of a drug-addicted young woman.

Knowles, Johanna. Lessons from a dead girl. [2007].

Laine struggles to come to terms with her friendship with troubled Leah Greene, whose secrets were too much for Laine to bear and whose actions sent Laine on a painful journey of self-discovery.

Koertge, Ronald. Margaux with an X. [2004].

Note: Margaux, known as a "tough chick" at her Los Angeles high school, makes a connection with Danny, who, like her, struggles with the emotional impact of family violence and abuse.

Lowry, Lois. Gossamer. [2006].

While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening Sinisteeds.

Lyga, Barry. Boy toy. [2007].

After five years of fighting his way past flickers of memory about the teacher who molested him and the incident that brought the crime to light, eighteen-year-old Josh gets help in coping with his molestor's release from prison when he finally tells his best friends the whole truth.

Mazer, Harry. THE WAR ON VILLA STREET

No only is Willis a loner, he finds himself running away from all of his problems. In an attempt to escape the pain of his drunken, abusive father, he runs into Rabbit Slavin's gang on Villa Street.

Mazer, Norma Fox. SILVER.

Sarabeth Silver never thought of herself as poor until she transfers to a school "where all the rich kids go." She is the only person who lives in a trailer with a mother who cleans houses for a living. When Sarabeth is accepted into a clique of girls she admires, she discovers that they have problems of their own.

Mazer, Norma Fox. The missing girl. [2008].

In Mallory, New York, as five sisters, aged eleven to seventeen, deal with assorted problems, conflicts, fears, and yearnings, a mysterious middle-aged man watches them, fascinated, deciding which one he likes the best.

McCord, Patricia. Pictures in the dark. [2004].

Life with their mentally ill mother becomes unbearable for twelve-year-old Sarah and fifteen-year-old Carlie as they are deprived of food and forbidden to use the bathroom.

McDaniel, Lurlene. Prey. 2008].

Told from their separate points of view, fifteen-year-old Ryan has a secret affair with his thirty-three-year-old history teacher at an Atlanta high school, and his best friend Honey becomes determined to uncover the reason he is increasingly distant.

McNamee, Graham. Hate you [2000].

Nursing hatred for the father who choked her and damaged her voice as a child, seventeen-year-old Alice writes songs she feels she cannot sing and seeks to reconcile her feelings for herself and her father.

Mikaelsen, Ben. Touching Spirit Bear. [2001].

After his anger erupts into violence, fifteen year-old Cole, in order to avoid going to prison, agrees to participate in a sentencing alternative bsed on the native American Circle Justice, and he is sent to a remote Alaskan Island where an encounter with a huge Spirit Bear changes his life.

Miklowitz, Gloria D. SECRETS NOT MEANT TO BE KEPT.

Adrienne is 16 and having trouble being close with Ryan, a boy she loves. She does not know why, but she has strange flashbacks. Adri's 3-year-old sister begins to do things that indicate that unnatural things are going on at Treehouse, the same preschool Adri attended when she was little.

Min, Anchee.   Wild Ginger.

Wild Ginger, subjected to the abuse of her classmates because of her half-French heritage, becomes a national hero of the Cultural Revolution when an act of bravery brings her to the attention of Chairman Mao, but her rise in the Party is threatened when she falls in love with Evergreen, a handsome local boy who is head of the Red Guards.

Moeri, Louise. THE GIRL WHO LIVED ON THE FERRIS WHEEL.

Set during WW II, this novel is about Clotilde and her difficult relationship with her mother, who is divorced, abusive and deranged.

Myers, Walter Dean. The beast.

A visit to his Harlem neighborhood and the discovery that the girl he loves is using drugs give 16-year-old Anthony Witherspoon a new perspective both on his home and on his life at a Connecticut prep school.

Oates, Joyce Carol. Freaky green eyes.

Fourteen-year-old Frankie relates the events of the year leading up to her mother's mysterious disappearance and her own struggle to discover and accept the truth about her parents' relationship.

Peck, Richard. ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE?

Harassed by obscene notes and phone calls that go dead as soon as she answers, Gail is finally confronted by the tormentor and is raped. This novel is about Gail's problems - physical, emotional, and judicial - that she faces after her trauma.

Picoult, Jodi. Picture perfect. [1996].

Cassie Barrett and Alex Rivers had a fairy-tale wedding, but once they returned to Hollywood, a troubling pattern began to emerge. Should Cassie stay or leave?

______. Perfect match. [2003].

Qualey, Marsha. One night.

Nineteen-year-old Kelly, ex-addict niece of a nationally-renowned Minnesota talk show host, has an unexpected adventure with the visiting prince of a war-torn Eastern European country.

Rapp, Adam and Ering, Timothy Basil. 33 snowfish.

Custis, a homeless fugitive from a pornography producer, hits the road with Curl, a child prostitute, and her boyfriend Boobie who has just killed his parents and kidnapped his infant brother, but their quest for a better life meets with little success until Custis makes an unlikely friend.

Roberts, Willo Davis. DON'T HURT LAURIE!

Laurie is scared to tell anyone about her abusive mother until she is beaten so badly with a poker that she is knocked out.

Shaw, Susan. The boy from the basement. [2004].

Charlie finally escapes the closet his father had locked him in as punishment and discovers the alien surroundings of a world that he's never before seen.

Sweeney, Joyce. PIANO MAN.

Although this novel is primarily about the relationship between 14-year-old Diedre and her infatuation with a 26-year-old piano player, it also deals with the abusive relationship of Diedre's cousin and her violent boyfriend.

Vaught, Susan. Exposed. [2008].

Chan Shealy, a sixteen-year-old baton-twirler and straight-A student, becomes involved with an internet predator, despite strict parental rules and her own beliefs that she knows how to keep herself safe online.

Voigt, Cynthia. When she hollers. [1994].

Tish, a teenager who has been enduring abuse from her adoptive stepfather since she was a small child, finally decides she must do something to stop him.

Werlin, Nancy. The rules of survival. [2006].

Seventeen-year-old Matthew recounts his attempts, starting at a young age, to free himself and his sisters from the grip of their emotionally and physically abusive mother.

Whittenberg, Allison. Life is fine. [2007].

High school student Samara Tuttle finds a friend in her new English teacher, Mr. Halbrook, who inspires her to want a better life, until he vanishes and Samara learns he may have been hiding a shocking secret.

NONFICTION

155.5 EMA
Emanuele, Patricia. Coping with aggression.

Explores social and scientific theories about the causes of aggression and suggests several strategies for coping with aggression.

158 PEL
Pelzer, David J. Help yourself for teens: real-life advice for real-life challenges.

305.23 POL
Pollack, William S and Shuster, Todd. Real boys' voices.

"Boys speak out about drugs, sex, violence, bullying, sports, girls, school, parents, and so much more.”

305.235 NIK
Nikkah, John and Furman, Leah. Our boys speak: adolescent boys write about their inner lives.

Presents the writings of twentieth-century American boys age twelve through eighteen, including essays, poems, diary entries, and stories on topics such as friendship, family struggles, first love, violence, homosexuality, and other concerns.

306.73 LEV
Levy, Barrie. In love and in danger : a teen's guide to breaking free of abusive relationships.

Describes the experiences of teens who have had abusive dating relationships and gives advice on how to end the cycle of abuse and forge healthy and loving, violence-free relationships.

362.7 PEL
Pelzer, David J. A man named Dave: a story of triumph and forgiveness.

The final entry in a trilogy of memoirs in which Dave Pelzer, brutally abused as a child, discusses the struggles he faced as an adult, and his determination to have a meaningful life.

362.7 PEL
Pelzer, David J. The lost boy: a foster child's search for the love of a family.

The author tells of his experiences in five foster homes and juvenile detention, after he was taken away from his abusive mother and alcoholic father, and discusses how he made it into the Air Force, and found love and contentment in his life.

362.7 PEL
Pelzer, David J. A Child called "It": one child's courage to survive.

David Pelzer, victim of one of the worst child abuse cases in the history of California, tells the story of how he survived his mother's brutality and triumphed over his past.

362.74 TEE
Ojeda, Auriana. Teens at risk: opposing viewpoints.

Looks at issues dealing with teenagers such as teen crime, teen pregnancy, and media violence.

362.82 DOM
Roleff, Tamara L., ed. Domestic Violence: opposing viewpoints.

362.82 FAM
Sadler, A. E., ed. Family violence.
Presents diverse opinions from many sides of the issue of domestic violence.

362.88082 VIO
Balkin, Karen. Violence against women.

362.883 LIN
Lindquist, Scott. The date rape prevention book : the essential guide for girls & women.

A guide to preventing date and acquaintance rape that studies the roles of drugs and alcohol in date rape, addresses issues that arise in college or university settings, and advises women how to act and escape when they are facing date or acquaintance rape.

364.15 SEX
Williams, Mary E., ed. Sexual violence : opposing viewpoints

364.36 JUV
Ojeda, Auriana. Juvenile crime : opposing viewpoints.

373.7888 HAS
Hasday, Judy L. Columbine High School shooting: student violence.

Provides an account of the violent student shootings that took place at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.

616.85 PLE
Pledge, Deanna S. When something feels wrong: a survival guide about abuse for young people.

Explains to teens what constitutes neglect and physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and discusses what to do about them--for oneself or others--and how to heal from them.

PROF 371.7 COL
Coloroso, Barbara. The Bully, the bullied, and the bystander: from pre-school to high school: how parents and teachers can help break the cycle of violence.