Books like The last chance Texaco by Brent Hartinger

The story of a greaser and his friend, who are torn apart by the world's two types of people and must learn to cope with their differences.

A young orphan girl from Canada makes her way to a Prince Edward Island farm and becomes a cherished member of a family there, all while proving she has a talent for making friends and learning languages.

Anne Shirley: A Teacher's Inspiration in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Two teenage brothers navigate the challenges of growing up with their parents gone.

Eleven-year-old Gilly Hopkins, a foster child known for her sharp wit and rebellious streak, finds herself living with the eccentric Trotter family, where she schemes to reunite with her birth mother but ultimately learns that the home she thought she’d escape may not be so bad after all.

Maddie, a twelve‑year‑old foster child, has lived in many homes and feels unseen—even after a supernatural promise from a ghost that saved her infancy. At the East Tennessee Children’s Home, she meets Murphy, who offers a glimpse of belonging and imagination.

A fiery redhead arrives at the Keepers' Texas ranch and finds herself in a love‑hunt with the gruff Andrew Parsons, whose stubborn gruffness threatens to be tamed by a passionate courtship.

A Texan doctor battles her past when a deputy sheriff seeks her lost mother, sparking romance and new family ties in the heart of Texas.

Six-year-old orphan Maggie is sent to Canada and lives with an old, failing farm family, where she must take on the responsibility of the farm and the care of a little girl.

After his mother's death, twelve‑year‑old Jayson turns to basketball for survival. He is placed in a wealthy, racially different foster family, where he must adapt to new life while confronting his former teammates in a championship game.

A tangle of knots follows a 11-year-old girl's journey as she discovers her Talent to bake cakes.

Twelve-year-old Lonnie, now settled in a foster home, writes letters to his little sister Lili, reflecting on family, loss, and the true meaning of peace while navigating life after losing a foster brother in the army.

A powerful, bracing and deeply spiritual look at intensely, troubled youth, Last Chance in Texas gives a stirring account of the way one remarkable prison rehabilitates its inmates.While reporting on the juvenile court system, journalist John Hubner kept hearing about a facility in Texas that ran the most aggressive--and one of the most successful--treatment programs for violent young offenders in America. How was it possible, he wondered, that a state like Texas, famed for its hardcore attitude toward crime and punishment, could be leading the way in the rehabilitation of violent and troubled youth? Now Hubner shares the surprising answers he found over months of unprecedented access to the Giddings State School, home to "the worst of the worst": four hundred teenage lawbreakers convicted of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to murder. Hubner follows two of these youths--a boy and a girl--through harrowing group therapy sessions in which they, along with their fellow inmates, recount their crimes and the abuse they suffered as children. The key moment comes when the young offenders reenact these soul-shattering moments with other group members in cathartic outpourings of suffering and anger that lead, incredibly, to genuine remorse and the beginnings of true empathy . . . the first steps on the long road to redemption.Cutting through the political platitudes surrounding the controversial issue of juvenile justice, Hubner lays bare the complex ties between abuse and violence. By turns wrenching and uplifting, Last Chance in Texas tells a profoundly moving story about the children who grow up to inflict on others the violence that they themselves have suffered. It is a story of horror and heartbreak, yet ultimately full of hope.

In the boarding halls of Saint Francis Prep, three friends—Mira, Jeremy, and Sebby—confront love, bullying, foster care, and mental health challenges while striving to uphold friendship and family bonds.