At a recent meeting with the Sanctuary, a shelter for homeless teens, we talked about creating a bibliography for the teens and those who work with and care for them.  Please add your titles below.  John

Fiction - Homeless Teens

Becoming Chloeby Catherine Ryan Hyde

A gay teenage boy and a fragile teenage girl meet while living on the streets of New York City and eventually decide to take a road trip across America to discover whether or not the world is a beautiful place.

Beggar's Ride by Theresa Nelson

Twelve-year-old Clare flees an unhappy home life and tries to survive on the streets of Atlantic City with a small gang of homeless kids, each of whom has his own secret reason for distrusting society.

The Blue Mirror by Kathe Koja

Seventeen-year-old loner Maggy Klass, who frequently seeks refuge from her alcoholic mother's apartment by sitting and drawing in a local cafe, becomes involved in a destructive relationship with a charismatic homeless youth named Cole.

Can't Get There From Hereby Strasser Todd

Tired of being hungry, cold, and dirty from living on the streets of New York City with a tribe of other homeless teenagers who are dying, one by one, a girl named Maybe ponders her future and longs for someone to care about her.

Chu Ju's House by Gloria Whelan

In order to save her baby sister, fourteen-year-old Chu Ju leaves her rural home in modern China and earns food and shelter by working on a sampan, tending silk worms, and planting rice seedlings, while wondering if she will ever see her family again.

Guitar Highway Rose by Brigid Lowry

Two fifteen-year-olds, Rosie and Asher, upset over the various unhappy circumstances of their lives in the Australian city of Perth, decide to run away.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

Abandoned by their mother, four children begin a search for a home and an identity.

Mary Wolf by Cynthia D. Grant

Sixteen-year-old Mary tries to keep her family together as they aimlessly travel the country after her father's business fails and he starts to change.

The Maze by Will Hobbs

Rick, a fourteen-year-old foster child, escapes from a juvenile detention facility near Las Vegas and travels to Canyonlands National Park in Utah where he meets a bird biologist working on a project to reintroduce condors to the wild.

Nothing to Lose by Alex Flinn

A year after running away with a traveling carnival to escape his unbearable home life, sixteen-year-old Michael returns to Miami, Florida, to find that his mother is going on trial for the murder of his abusive stepfather.

The Rose Queen by M.E. Rabb

Sam and Sophie arrive in the small town of Venice, Indiana, and soon the most popular girl in town--the queen of the upcoming Rose Festival--disappears.

Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen

After running away from her fifth foster home, Holly, a twelve-year-old orphan, travels across the country, keeping a journal of her experiences and struggle to survive.

Slake's Limbo by Felice Holman

Thirteen year-old Aremis Slake, hounded by his fears and misfortunes, flees them into New York City's subway tunnels, never again--he believes--to emerge.

Stealing Henry by Carolyn MacCullough 

The experiences of high-schooler Savannah, following her decision to take her eight-year-old half brother from his abusive father and their oblivious mother, are interspersed with the earlier story of her mother, Alice, as she meets Savannah's father and unexpectedly becomes pregnant.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with--and protection from--Venice's "Thief Lord."

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

Five troubled teenagers fall into prostitution as they search for freedom, safety, community, family, and love.

Tyrell by Coe Booth

Fifteen-year-old Tyrell, who is living in a Bronx homeless shelter with his spaced-out mother and his younger brother, tries to avoid temptation so he does not end up in jail like his father.

When the Road Ends byJean Thesman

Three foster children, all with problems of their own, spend the summer with an unusual and unexpected companion, a woman recovering from an accident that killed her husband. Together they struggle to create an "absolutely perfect family."

Non- Fiction - Homeless Teens

Girlbomb : A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum

This is a raw, true story of a 15 year-old girl who runs away from home to escape violence, only to be confronted with it again on the streets and in shelters.

Living at the Edge of the World: A Teenager's Survival in the Grand Central Tunnels by S. Tina

An honest and gripping memoir about a girl living homeless with a group of teenagers in New York City.

Chains Laurie Halse Anderson.doc