Life Issues

Divorce

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The Whole Family Center
This interactive site is geared towards understanding and improving all kinds of family relationships. Produced by experienced psychologists and writers. Site has a Teen Center with information on divorce and other life problems.
Kids' Turn
A Non-profit organization aiming to help kids and parents through divorce.

Read It: Fiction

Brugman, Alyssa. Being Bindy.
Fiction Brugman Teen 2006
Australian teenager Bindy finds it hard to cope when her best friend of many years suddenly finds other friends and interests and her divorced parents present her with choices that could change everything about her way of life.
Roberts, Willo Davis. Blood on his hands.
Fiction Roberts Pbk Teen 2004
After the death of his little sister, Marc's life begins to fall apart--his parents divorce, his mother comes under the influence of a pushy insurance agent, and Marc is sent to a camp for socially maladjusted youths.
Quarles, Heather. A door near here.
Fiction Quarles 1998
Four siblings struggle to maintain a seminormal home life when their single mother's alcoholism becomes debilitating.
Marino, Peter. Dough Boy.
Fiction Marino Teen 2005
Overweight, fifteen-year-old Tristan, who lives happily with his divorced mother and her boyfriend Frank, suddenly finds that he must deal with intensified criticism about his weight and other aspects of his life when Frank's popular but troubled, nutrition-obsessed daughter moves in.
Cooney, Caroline B. A friend at midnight.
Fiction Cooney Teen 2006
After rescuing her younger brother abandoned at a busy airport by their divorced father, fifteen-year-old Lily finds her faith in God sorely tested as she struggles to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels. Lily has settled into life in Connecticut after her parent's divorce but it's been harder on her eight-year-old brother Michael. After their mother remarries, her brother chooses to go live with his father in Washington, D.C., until the day he calls home from the Baltimore-Washington Airport where his father has abandoned him. Lily is home babysitting her baby stepbrother when she answers the phone. She has no idea the extent to which her faith in God will be tested. There is no choice for Lily. She will rescue Michael, but will she be able to rescue herself from the bitterness and anger she feels?
Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet.
Fiction Paulsen Pbk Teen 1987
After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian spends fifty-four days in the Canadian wilderness, learning to survive with only the aid of a hatchet given him by his mother, and learning also to survive his parents' divorce. Includes an introduction and sidebar commentary by the author.
De Oliveira, Eddie. Johnny Hazzard.
Fiction De Oliveira Pbk Teen 2006
Fifteen-year-old Johnny Hazzard's seventh obligatory summer in London with his divorced father livens up when Johnny meets an older girl named January.
Perez, Marlene. Love in the corner pocket.
Fiction Perez Teen 2008
Chloe, a Laguna Beach, California, high school student, sorts out questions about her parents' separation and her own friendships and love life as she gets ready to compete in a pool tournament.
Deuker, Carl. Night hoops.
Fiction Deuker Teen 2000
While trying to prove that he is good enough to on his high school's varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with his parents' divorce and erractic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.
Birdsall, Olivia. Notes on a near-life experience.
Fiction Birdsall Teen 2007
Fifteen-year-old Mia feels like a ghost watching her own life when her parents' arguments escalate into a separation, triggering counseling sessions, strange behavior in her brother and sister, and a new connection with her brother's best friend.
Nelson, Blake. Paranoid Park.
Fiction Nelson Teen 2006
A sixteen-year-old Portland, Oregon skateboarder, whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is engulfed by guilt and confusion when he accidentally kills a security guard at a train yard.
Thomas, Rob . Rats saw God.
Fiction Thomas 1996
In hopes of graduating, Steve York agrees to complete a hundred-page writing assignment which helps him to sort out his relationship with his famous astronaut father and the events that changed him from promising student to troubled teen.
Garfinkle, D. Storky : how I lost my nickname and won the girl.
Fiction Garfinkle Pbk Teen 2005
Fourteen-year-old high school student Michael "Storky" Pomerantz's journal describes his freshman year, from dealing with his mother's dating his dentist to attempting to win the heart of the girl he loves.
Wright, Bil. When the black girl sings.
Fiction Wright Teen 2008
Adopted by white parents and sent to an exclusive Connecticut girls' school where she is the only black student, fourteen-year-old Lahni Schuler feels like an outcast, particularly when her parents separate, but after attending a local church where she hears gospel music for the first time, she finds her voice.

Read It: Non-Fiction

Bode, Janet. For Better, For Worse: A Guide to Surviving Divorce For Preteens and Their Families (2001)
Uses first-person accounts from young people to describe the effects of divorce and remarriage and how to handle them. 160p.
Charlish, Anne. Divorce(1999)
Discusses divorce in today's world and in the past, legal and financial issues related to it, and the effects of divorce upon children and society. Includes case studies. 64p.
Holyoke, Nancy. Help! A Girl's Absolutely Indispensable Guide to Divorce and Stepfamilies (1999)
Answers letters from girls dealing with various aspects of divorce, remarriage, and stepfamilies. Includes tips, quizzes, and advice. 128p.
Isler, Claudia. Caught in the Middle: A Teen Guide to Custody(2000)
Explains different types of custody agreements and discusses visitation rights, foster care, and legal emancipation. 64p.
Stewart, Gail. Teens and Divorce(2000)
Discusses issues affecting teenagers when their parents divorce, including feelings of guilt and resentment, custody decisions, and adjusting to life after divorce. 96p.

View It

Necessary Parties(1988) 109 minutes
Fifteen-year-old Chris Mills refuses to accept his parents' decision to divorce. He wants to protect his little sister and himself from the traumas of a broken home. He also feels that his parents haven't tried hard enough to save their marriage. With help from eccentric lawyer and part-time auto mechanic Archie Corelli, Chris launches an unprecedented court action destined to change his family's lives forever.