Living in poverty means that people are often going without basic needs such as food, clothing, and adequate shelter. We hope these selections serve to educate and encourage a dialogue on topics surrounding social justice for economic inequalities and poverty.
Golden Arm by Carl Deuker
Lazarus “Laz” Weathers has always been shy, and his issue with stuttering when he speaks hasn’t helped. Stuck in a Seattle trailer park, Laz finds baseball helps him escape from the world of poverty and drugs. When he gets an opportunity to pitch for the rich kids across town, he has a chance to get drafted by the major leagues. But playing for the other team means leaving behind his family, including Antonio, Laz’s younger brother, who more and more, seems to be drawn to the dark world of the Jet City’s drug ring. Now Laz will have to choose between being the star pitcher he always dreamed of becoming and the team player his family needs.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Hoopla)
Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown
Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side, where apartments are small and parents suffer addictions to the white rocks. Yet there is magic . . . everywhere. New portals begin to open when Echo transfers to the rich school on the West Side, and an insightful teacher becomes a pivotal mentor. Each day, Echo travels between two worlds, leaving her brothers, her friends, and a piece of herself behind on the East Side. There are dangers to leaving behind the place that made you. Echo soon realizes there is pain flowing through everyone around her, and a black veil of depression threatens to undo everything she’s worked for.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Playaway
Every Falling Star by Sungju Lee
The intense memoir of a North Korean boy named Sungju who is forced at age twelve to live on the streets and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly re-creates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, his “brothers”; to be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Playaway
What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson
Ava Bardem lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years, Ava’s father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He’s taught her to love no one. But then she meets Jack. Living in poverty, Jack Dahl is holding his breath. He and his younger brother have nothing–except each other. With their parents gone, Jack faces a stark choice: lose his brother to foster care or find the drug money that sent his father to prison. He chooses the money. Suddenly, Jack’s and Ava’s fates become intimately–and dangerously–linked as Ava’s father hunts for the same money as Jack. When he picks up on Jack’s trail, Ava must make her own wrenching choice: remain silent or speak and fight for Jack’s survival. Choices. They come at a price.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Playaway
Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong–until disaster strikes. On April 18, a historic earthquake rocks San Francisco, destroying Mercy’s home and school. Now she’s forced to wait with her classmates for their families in a temporary park encampment. Though fires might rage, and the city may be in shambles, Mercy can’t sit by while they wait for the army to bring help–she still has the “bossy” cheeks that mark her as someone who gets things done. But what can one teenage girl do to heal so many suffering in her broken city?
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media On Demand)
Punching Bag by Rex Ogle
The compelling true story of a high school career defined by poverty and punctuated by outbreaks of domestic abuse. Rex Ogle describes his struggle to survive; reflects on his complex, often paradoxical relationship with his passionate, fierce mother; and charts the trajectory of his stepdad’s anger. Hovering over Rex’s story is the talismanic presence of his unborn baby sister.Through it all, Rex threads moments of grace and humor that act as beacons of light in the darkness. Punching Bag is a remarkable memoir about one teenager’s cycle of violence, blame, and attempts to forgive his parents–and himself.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla)
They Better Call Me Sugar by Sugar Rodgers
Growing up in dire poverty in Suffolk, Virginia, Sugar (born Ta’Shauna) Rodgers never imagined that she would become an all-star player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). She mastered her three-point shot on a net her brother put up just outside their home, eventually becoming so good that she could hustle local drug dealers out of money in one-on-one contests. With the love and support of her family and friends, Sugar’s performance on her high school basketball team led to her recruitment by the Georgetown Hoyas, and her eventual draft into the WNBA in 2013 by the Minnesota Lynx. The first of her family to attend college, Sugar speaks of her struggles both academically and as an athlete with raw honesty.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Hoopla)
Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she’s had enough. She’s run away before and always been caught quickly. But she’s older and wiser now–she’s twelve–and this time she gets away clean. Through tough and tender and angry and funny journal entries, Holly spills out her story. We travel with her across the country–hopping trains, scamming food, sleeping in parks or homeless encampments. And we also travel with her across the gaping holes in her heart–as she finally comes to terms with her mother’s addiction and death.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media On Demand)
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral . . . for all the wrong reasons. Bri soon finds herself at the center of a controversy, portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. But with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri doesn’t just want to make it–she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media On Demand), Playaway
The Girl in Between by Sarah Carroll
In an old, abandoned mill, a girl and her ma take shelter from their memories of life on the streets, and watch the busy world go by. The girl calls it the Castle because it’s the biggest place they’ve ever stayed, a home of her own like no other. The windows are boarded up and the floorboards are falling in, but for her neither of those things matter. Then developers show up, and it’s clear that their lives are about to change forever. Desperate to save their refuge from the authorities and her mother from her own personal demons, the girl seeks out the ghosts of the mill. And with only Caretaker–the old man who’s slept outside the mill for decades–around to answer her questions, she begins to wonder what kind of ghosts are haunting both the mill and her mother.
Available format: Book
Homeless: Youth Living on the Streets by Gail Snyder
One in 30 young people aged 13 to 17 and one in ten 17- to 25-year-olds experience homelessness in any year. Whether they double-up with family or friends, couch surf, live on the streets, or live in motels or shelters, homeless youths are often hidden from public view and the impact of their housing instability may be felt for generations. Homeless: Youth Living on the Streets explores what it is like to be young and homeless, what causes youth homelessness, and what can be done about it.
Available format: Book
We love helping people find books, movies, and more.
Tell us about your preferences, and our librarians will create a list of titles selected specifically for you.
