Fiction Dealing With Specific Issues

Uncle Jeremy has been helping out the family for a while now, dropping off meat he's shot. The offer to go hunting sounds great to 15 year old Wolf. A quick pig hunt, what could go wrong?

George is determined to save the world by lunchtime. Grandpa suggests they start by recycling the yoghurt pot from his breakfast, putting his banana peel in the compost pile, and hanging the washing to dry in the sun. George gets to learn how recycling and re-using materials, and... using less petrol can really help save the world.
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Told with laugh-out-loud humor and take-no-prisoners frankness, this is a story of incredible resilience amid the dangers and chaos of poverty, prejudice, and personal demons. Macy's school officially classifies her as "disturbed," but Macy isn't interested in how others define h...er. She's got more pressing problems: her mom can't move off the couch, her dad's in prison, her brother's been kidnapped by Child Protective Services, and now her best friend isn't speaking to her. Writing in a dictionary format, Macy explains the world in her own terms-complete with gritty characters and outrageous endeavors. With an honesty that's both hilarious and fearsome, slowly Macy reveals why she acts out, why she can't tell her incarcerated father that her mom's cheating on him, and why her best friend needs protection . . . the kind of protection that involves Macy's machete.
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Powerful YA fiction about a teenager coming to terms with the suicide of her sister. Tara, the main character, is a blossoming painter who loves the work of Vincent Van Gogh, and his story is used as a counterpoint to her own. It is also a novel about the power of love, and how t...he acquisition of inner peace requires forgiveness of ourselves and others. 17 year old Tara McClusky's life is hard. She shares the care of her paralysed father with her domineering, difficult mother, forced to cut down on her hours at school to help support the family with a part-time rest home job. She's very much alone, still grieving the loss of her older sister Van, who died five years before. Her only source of consolation is her obsession with art and painting in particular. Most especially she is enamoured with Vincent Van Gogh: has read all his letters and finds many parallels between the tragic story of his life and her own. Luckily she meets the intelligent, kindly Professor Max Stockhamer (Jewish refugee and philosopher) and his grandson Johannes, and their support is crucial to her ability to survive this turbulent time.
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A beautiful and inspiring collection of stories about boys who changed the world without killing a single dragon or saving a single princess.