On her way home one evening, Liza has to force her way through a group of men in a train underpass. She doesn't think anything of it, but when her mom is shot dead moments later, Liza's world turns upside down. Even worse, Liza was really the target. Only hours after her mother's death, Liza is nearly killed again and she and her dad are placed in the witness protection program. Leaving everything she's ever known behind, Liza and her dad pick up and move, never staying in one place for long. It's too big of a risk--and Liza's worst fear is realized when she gets recognized. The would-be killer is still on their trail, so all Liza ad her dad can do is keep running. Unsure whom to trust and where to go, they're just trying to stay alive.
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Twelve-year-old Charlie is confined to his basement without food or clothing. He's being punished. He doesn't mean to leave - Father wouldn't allow it - but when Charlie is accidentally thrust outside, he awakens to the alien surroundings of a world to which he's never been exposed. Though haunted by fear of the basement and his father's rage, Charlie embarks on a journey toward healing and blossoms when he becomes an unconditionally loved and loving member of the right foster family.

This carefully crafted and authentic portrayal of Charlie's emotional and physical abuse is gracefully matched by Susan Shaw's inspiring and deeply moving story of recovery.
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"I live in a box with four sides, tall and brown. I cannot get out." With these words, readers enter the world of Suzie, a dark-eyed twelve-year-old who desperately needs to feel safe and worthy of love. Suzie's "box" is a psychological prison. In it, she sits with arms wrapped around her legs, feet on the cushion of a gold living room chair, knees pressed against her chin. She can no longer eat, sleep, speak, or walk. Although she doesn't know it, living in a box threatens her life. Suzie's mother, a singer who feels she sacrificed her career in order to raise a family, insists that Suzie is just "going through a stage." Suzie's father is rarely home. Only Suzie's older sister Deanna makes an effort to understand what's happening, but even Deanna can't help. Life begins to change when Suzie's Uncle Elliot stops by unexpectedly. Realizing at once that Suzie is in serious trouble, Elliot demands that she be taken to a hospital.

Suzie suddenly finds herself in St. Dorothy's, a mental hospital where she begins a long and fear-filled journey. Here, she meets an understanding therapist named Stella and a boy named Joshua, who offers his friendship while struggling with a tragedy of his own. However, Suzie also meets Karen, a patient on the ward who both terrorizes and challenges her. To make sense of her world, Suzie must piece together a puzzle that involved seemingly unrelated clues - a broken bicycle, a torn picture, peacock feathers, ducks swimming in a pond on the hospital ground, a batch of burned cookies. When the pieces finally come together, they reveal a secret that will change Suzie's life forever. However, they also give her a chance to regain her voice and reclaim her spirit.
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"What do you do when the world stops making sense? When your mother dies in a house fire trying to save a cat. When 24 of your classmates die in a fire, but you and your best friend survive. When people blame you for surviving and come to your house to throw garbage in your yard and chant "Murderer! Murderer!" Fourteen-year-old Joseph Edward Campbell keeps a journal, to "fill time, fill the page, fill my mind," anything to keep himself from thinking. He fills three notebooks, writing about "nowhere stuff"-the color blue, vanilla ice cream, crickets and autumn leaves. But the journal effectively pulls readers into Joey's tortured mind, gradually revealing the whole story of how he and Maureen McGillicuddy survived and how his father and others nurture the healing process through quiet support and well-meaning cliches about life. Shaw's prose is simple and fast-moving, effectively using the indirection of journal entries to give voice to Joey's anguish. The wrenching premise and Joey's first-person point of view make this a story with broad appeal."
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To Tracy, safe means having Mama close by. Years after her mother's death, Tracy still feels her presence. But the moment Tracy is forced into a car as she is walking home from school one day, safe is ripped away. In the aftermath of an unspeakable crime, thirteen-year-old Tracy must fight her way back to safety and find comfort in her mother's memory once again.

A raw and moving story of a young rape victim's journey toward healing, empowered by poetry and music, family and friends.

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