Piper's life is turned upside down when her family moves into a shelter in a whole new city. She misses her house, her friends, and her privacy, and she hates being labeled the homeless girl at her new school. But while Hope House offers her new challenges, it also brings new friendships, like the girls in Firefly Girls Troop 423 and a sweet street dog named Baby. So when Baby's person goes missing, Piper knows she has to help. But helping means finding...

"While learning about September 11th, fifth grader Dèja (born after the attacks) realizes how much the events still color her world"-- For fifth grader Dèja, it's tough enough starting school in a new neighborhood. Projects about her home and family only highlight how different she is from her classmates. Does her teacher reallly want an essay about living in a shelter? When Miss Garcia suggests that all her assignments have something to do with...

Forced to live on the streets of New York after his mother disappears from their hotel room, eleven-year-old Clay is befriended by two men who help him survive.

Six imaginative schoolmates embark on a game in which they pretend to be gypsies, but when one of the boys runs away and takes up with a group of homeless people, the game threatens to become all too real.

Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica's annual homeless count, just to get her school's community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult--because Red refuses to...

"A story of a citywide scavenger hunt and a girl who learns that family--and weirdness--is relative."--publisher

"Fourteen-year-old Robbie never knows from one day to the next if there is going to be enough to eat or if his father will even come home."--

"Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran"--

In 1903 Brooklyn, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changes for the worse when his parents, Russian immigrants, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge.

"In these three novellas, Gary Paulsen explores how children can survive the most difficult circumstances through art and the love of dogs"--Provided by publisher.