18 books like M.C. Higgins, the Great
Sounder
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and through his relationship with his devoted dog Sounder.
Shares African Americans in fiction, Family life in fiction, African Americans, Family life
Sami and the time of the troubles
A ten-year-old Lebanese boy goes to school, helps his mother with chores, plays with his friends, and lives with his family in a basement shelter when bombings occur and fighting begins on his street.
Shares Family life, Families, Children's fiction
Alice, I Think
Fifteen-year-old Alice keeps a diary as she struggles to cope with the embarrassments and trials of family, dating, school, work, small town life, and a serious case of "outcastitis."
Shares Family life, Family, Coming-of-age, Families
The Book of the Banshee
Will Flowers doesn't understand what could have happened. His sister, Estelle, used to be really cool. She was quiet, responsible, and most times you'd never even know she was around(which was the cool part). But lately, Estelle has been acting totally weird - to everyone. All she does is get mad and yell. She yells at Mom. She yells at Dad. She even yells at little Muffy. But mostly she yells at…
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
Rex Zero and the end of the world
In the summer of 1962 with everyone nervous about a possible nuclear war, ten-nearly-eleven-year-old Rex, having just moved to Ottawa from Vancouver with his parents and five siblings, faces his own personal challenges as he discovers new friends and a new understanding of the world around him.
Shares Family life in fiction, Family life, Family, Families
Alice in April
While trying to survive seventh grade, Alice discovers that turning thirteen will make her the Woman of the House at home, so she starts a campaign to get more appreciated for taking care of her father and older brother.
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Laura and her family move to Minnesota where they live in a dugout until a new house is built and face misfortunes caused by flood, blizzard, and grasshoppers.
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
What I saw and how I lied
In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever.
Shares Family life, Family, Coming-of-age, Families
The meaning of Maggie
Eleven-year-old Maggie Mayfield is an A-plus student with big plans for herself, but at this moment she is also facing a lot of problems--like starting middle school and figuring out how to help her father who is out of work and in a wheelchair.
Eleven-year-old Maggie Mayfield is an A-plus student with big plans for herself, but at this moment, she is also facing a lot of problems, such as…
Shares Family life, Family, Coming-of-age, Families
Bearstone
A DRAMATIC TALE OF GRIZZLIES AND GOLD
Fourteen-year-old Cloyd Atcitty has been skipping school for years. He's run away from a group home for Native American boys, and is now being sent to work for Walter Landis, an old rancher on an isolated Colorado farm.
In a cave above the ranch, Cloyd finds a turquoise carving of a bear. Knowing that his people, the Utes, have a special relationship with…
Shares Coming of age in fiction, Coming-of-age, Children's fiction
Look Homeward, Angel
An elaborate and moving coming-of-age story about Eugene Gant, a restless and energetic character whose passion to experience life takes him from his small, rural hometown in North Carolina to Harvard University and the city of Boston. The novel's pattern is artfully simple--a small town, a large family, high school and college--yet the characters are monumental in their graphic individuality and…
Shares Mountain life, Family, Families
The secret wisdom of the earth
"After witnessing the death of his younger brother in a terrible home accident, 14-year-old Kevin and his grieving mother are sent for the summer to live with Kevin's grandfather. In this peeled-paint coal town deep in Appalachia, Kevin quickly falls in with a half-wild hollow kid named Buzzy Fink who schools him in the mysteries and magnificence of the woods. The events of this fateful summer…
Shares Mountain life, Family life, Coming-of-age, Families
The silver spoon
Shares Family, Families with this book.
How I Live Now
"Every war has turning points and every person too."Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more…
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
The Long Winter
The Long Winter
After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves from the claim shanty into town for the winter, a winter that an Indian has predicted will be seven months of bad weather.
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
Twisted
High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background—average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn't believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to…
Shares Ohio, Family life, Coming-of-age, Children's fiction
Little Town on the Prairie
Pa's homestead thrives, Laura gets her first job in town, blackbirds eat the corn and oats crops, Mary goes to college, and Laura gets into trouble at school, but becomes a certified school teacher.
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction
Perfect Girl
Out of the blue, Ruthie has fallen in love with the boy next door, Perry. He's suddenly grown up and made her heart go thwang, and Ruthie has no idea what to do about it.Then a new girl shows up at school, and Ruthie realizes she has to do something, and fast. Jenna is perfect, from her perfectly straight hair to her perfectly manicured toes. Perry's noticed her, too, and worse, Jenna has noticed…
Shares Family life, Family, Families, Children's fiction