Jake's Tower
by Elizabeth Laird
Macmillan Children's Books
ISBN: 033396215X

Jake dreams of a house, a tall thin tower surrounded by an impassable moat - somewhere totally safe - and the only person he'd ever allow in would be his dad (if he ever appeared).

Jake's real life is never safe. He's bullied and beaten by his mother's boyfriend, but after a particularly vicious attack Jake and his mother flee to his grandmother's house and a bond grows between the formidable old woman and the frightened boy. In his grandmother, Jake finds someone who gives him the strength to stand up for himself, to put away the fantasies he hides behind, and to face the truth about his father.

The Edge
by Alan Gibbons
Orion Children's
ISBN: 1842550942

Danny and his mother are on the run - from Chris, his mother's boyfriend, a violent man who beats them both up, and won't let them go. They are persued from London to the north, where they take refuge with Danny's grandparents.

But even there, nothing is safe. Danny is conspicuous as the only mixed race boy in their small community, and with the ever present threat of discovery, he has to learn how to live continually on the edge. A tense and chilling story to which the chase gives terrific drama.

Blue
by Sue Mayfield
Hodder Children's Books
ISBN: 0340805196

15 year-old Anna Goldsmith lies in a coma after an attempted suicide. Through Anna's diary, and the accounts of her best friend, Mel and her mother, we discover how the viscious, calculated bullying of Anna's schoolfriend, Hayley, drove Anna to want to end her life.