Dirty Liar by Brian James
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From the book jacket..."Benji has to escape his home. His mother's boyfriend has crossed the line, and Bengi can't deal with it anymore. So he leaves behind everything he knows to go live with his father and stepmother in Portland. His stepmother is nice, but he doesn't trust her. His father is suspicious, refusing to trust Benji. And Benji... he's just trying not to self-destruct."
Ducking Ugly by Neal Shusterman
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From the book jacket..."Cara De Fido is so ugly, mirrors would rather break than show her reflection. Not even her own parents can deny her ugliness, and no amount of their love can make up for the cruelty of her schoolmates. No matter how smart she is, no matter how talented she is, the shallow people in her town of Flock's Rest can't see beyond her terrible face. Then Cara receives a shimmering note from some exotic place suggesting that there’s more to her than meets the eye. "You have a destiny," says the mysterious and wise old woman who lives in the town cemetery, when Cara shows her the letter. "Don't let anyone tell you that you don't." Cara wonders if her destiny has anything to do with the amazingly handsome boy who appears in her recurring dreams, and the beautiful green valley where he lives -- a mystical place where the people are so accepting, her ugliness doesn’t matter. Could such a place exist? When Cara is betrayed by Gerardo, the only boy in town who has ever befriended her, she runs away to seek out her destiny. Soon Cara discovers that her valley of dreams is real. It's a place where the ugliest of ducklings can become swans. A swan, however, can have a serious and deadly taste for revenge..."
