Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.--

Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

Five teenagers struggle to find their way out of prostitution. Five teens victimized by sex trafficking try to find their way to a new life. There's Eden, the preacher's daughter who turns tricks in Vegas and is helped into a child prostitution rescue. Seth, the gay farm boy disowned by his father who finds himself without money or resources other than his own body. Whitney, the privileged kid coaxed into the life by a pimp and whose dreams are ruined...

Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

"Nick is a star up and down the soccer field, but off it, things are a little more hectic." Twelve-year-old Nick loves soccer and hates books, but soon learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

There are three rules in the neighborhood: Don't cry ; Don't snitch ; Get revenge. Will takes his dead brother Shawn's gun, and gets in the elevator on the 7th floor. As the elevator stops on each floor, someone connected to Shawn gets on. Someone already dead. Dead by teenage gun violence. And each has something to share with Will.