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Below you will find print and digital titles about poverty in our SHS Learning Commons collection and the Libby collection from the Scott County Library.
Don't Fail Me Now by Una LaMarcheAfrican American teen Michelle cares for her two siblings in urban Baltimore while their mother is in jail. Leah and her stepbrother Tim, both white, live in a middle-class suburb of Maryland. Michelle and Leah share the same father who abandoned them--Buck Devereaux. When the two learn Buck is dying, the whole group embarks on a road trip to California to see him one last time.
Educated by Tara WestoverA memoir about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsAn autobiography of writer Jeannette Walls who grew up in a creative but dysfunctional family. During Walls' early life her family moved among Southwest desert towns and camped in the mountains, while her alcoholic parents spent time painting and writing rather than feeding their family. Later the family settled in a West Virginia mining town where the children had to fend for themselves until they found the resources to leave home.
Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. VanceHillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.
Hold Tight, Don't Let Go by Laura Rose WagnerIn the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Nadine goes to live with her father in Miami while her cousin Magdalie, raised as her sister, remains behind in a refugee camp, dreaming of joining Nadine but wondering if she must accept that her life and future are in Port-au-Prince.
What Beauty There Is by Cory AndersonJack Dahl, 17, desperately tries to protect his younger brother Matty from being taken away from him after his mother dies. Fleeing into Idaho's cold mountains, Jack begins a desperate search for drug money hidden by his father before his arrest. On his trail is his father's ruthless partner, Victor Bardem, who will stop at nothing to get the money for himself.
I Will Always Write Back by Martin Ganda; Caitlin Alifirenka; Liz Welch (As told to)Presents a true story of how twelve-year-old Caitlin Alifirenka from Pennsylvania became a pen pal with Martin Ganda, who lives in Zimbabwe. Describes how the letters they exchanged changed both of their lives and led to a lifelong friendship.