The most autobiographical of Dickens' works, David Copperfield often echoes the writer's own life. It tells a moving story of David's journey from birth to maturity, a journey which inextricably links his life with some of Dickens' most colorful and extraordinary families.

In the outside, twelve-year-old Jillian Maxwell is the perfect child. She's helpful with chores around the house, gets straight A's in school, has plans for college, and stays out of trouble. She seems to have everything a girl could want: a beautiful new home, an adoring little sister, a mother who cares about her, and an attentive stepfather. But inside, Jillian harbors a terrible secret.

"In 1910 New York City, four years after her Irish immigrant father dies of tuberculosis, ten-year-old Essie's fear and anxiety continue to grow uncontrollably, so much that when her mother, a brave nurse, remarries and the family moves to North Brother Island, where Essie's new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for the incurably sick, Essie imagines all manner of horrors, including the ghost of a little girl--which might not be imaginary after...

"Magic is illegal in Newworld, so Maggie struggles to explain the strange shadows--that only she can see--that seem to accompany her new stepfather everywhere"--

When his mother's new marriage takes them into the household of a miniature golf course owner, ten-year-old Wedge struggles with feelings of resentment and dislike for his stepfather.

Twelve-year-old Trevor has an adult problem to deal with: how to protect himself, his sisters, and his mother from his abusive stepfather (currently in prison) and he thinks the way to do that is to take up boxing--although he would really rather draw.

A teenager is accused of his own mother's murder in the New York Times bestselling author's YA paranormal thriller: "an engrossing page-turner" (Kirkus).
Thomas Bellweather hasn't been in town for long. Just long enough for his newlywed mother to be murdered, and for his new stepdad's cop colleagues to decide Thomas is the primary suspect. Not that there's any evidence. But before Thomas got to the small town of Garrett Mills,...

Laura Stiles and her two sisters discover their stepfather's plans to marry each of them off to his lecherous friends. They need to find better matches to legally claim their portion of their father's lumber dynasty and seize control from their stepfather. When Laura befriends a mission group heading to serve the poor in California, she volunteers herself and her sisters to join their efforts. The settlement is in miserable condition, but the sisters...

Henry "Biggie" Abbott has hidden behind his weight for years, and although he is the son and stepson of two of Finch, Minnesota's most famous athletes, he prefers academic success until the girl of his dreams suggests he join the baseball team, and, with his stepbrother's help, he discovers he is a great pitcher.

Since her mother died, twelve-year-old Lily has struggled to care for her severely autistic half-brother, Adam, in their Miami home, but she is frustrated and angry because her oncologist step-father, Don, expects her to devote her time to Adam, and is unwilling to admit that Adam needs professional help--but when Adam bonds with a young dolphin with cancer Lily is confronted with another dilemma: her family or the dolphin's freedom.