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Homeless Youth - an SFPL Booklist for Teens

Teens end up being homeless for a number of reasons, including running away, being kicked out, or simply having unstable home lives. These fiction and nonfiction books explore these issues and experiences. An SFPL Booklist.

San Francisco Public Library

14 items

  • Almost Home

    Helping Kids Move From Homelessness to Hope

    Ryan, Kevin, 1967-
    Six homeless teens are followed as they receive services from one of the largest agencies devoted to helping them get off the streets.
    BookHoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2012.
  • Kicked out for being gay, Jordan is barely getting by on the streets when he rescues Chloe from being raped.
    BookNew York : Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, c2006.
  • An adventurous crime novel features two homeless teens. (Also available as an ebook and audiobook).
    BookSomerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2011.
  • 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. This book tells some of their stories.
    BookYpsilanti, Mich. : Homofactus Press, 2010.
  • Ray Liu is a privileged Chinese immigrant - until his father finds out he is gay, and kicks him out.
    BookToronto : Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2011.
  • Set in Zimbabwe, two brothers end up homeless and on the run after soldiers invade their village.
    BookNew York : Little, Brown, 2011.
  • Maddie is barely scraping by on the streets when the parents of six-year-old Dylan asks her to watch him - and then don't return.
    BookVictoria, B.C. ; Custer, WA : Orca Book Publishers, c2012.
  • Fourteen-year-old homeless Jamie, aka Punkzilla, is trying to make it across the country to say goodbye to his older brother, who is dying of AIDS. (Also available in print format).
    eBookSomerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2010.
  • In this brutal sequel to Burn, Pattyn runs away, leaving her younger sister to cope with their younger siblings after the death of their abusive father.
    BookNew York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2013]
  • Seventeen-year-old Amber Appleton lives in an old school bus with her mother, and tries to keep her spirits up, until she finally can't any longer. (Also available as an audio and ebook).
    BookNew York : Little, Brown, 2010.
  • Having escaped juvie and foster care, Ray and Jose, 14 and 15, are now hiding out from their parole officers in a burned-out stationhouse in New York City's Ten Mile River park.
    BookNew York : Dial Books, c2008.
  • Homeless friends Gin, a middle-aged transvestite, and teenage runaway Miyuki find an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve.
    DVDCulver City, Calif. : Distributed by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment, [2004]
  • Tyrell is living in a homeless shelter with his mother and younger brother, and trying to stay on the right path. (Also available as an ebook).
    BookNew York : PUSH/Scholastic, 2006.
  • Voices From the Streets

    Homeless Youth Speak Out on State Policy

    California teens interviewed their homeless peers, who talk about their experiences.
    DVD[Calif.] : California Research Bureau Reports, [2009?]