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Top Ten Worst Parents in Tween Lit by Amy Estersohn
I’ve noticed that my seventh graders take tremendous pleasure in reading about horrible, awful, mean, nasty, and ludicrous parents, no matter the genre, setting, or gender of the main character.
For all other bad-parent-lovers out there, I’ve collected a list of some of my favorite careless caretakers:
Gym Candy by Carl Deuker
Mike wants his son Mick to be a star football player so badly that Mick realizes shortcuts to the top are okay as long as it means parent approval.
Fake ID by Lamar Giles
Tony’s family has been relocated four time as part of Witness Protection because his dad can’t seem to stay away from a life of organized crime even when he’s in hiding. This last move is the final straw, and Tony ‘s afraid that his father’s suspicious night-time activities mean even more trouble.
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate
Jackson’s parents are proud, perhaps too proud to acknowledge that their family is struggling financially. At what point does insistent optimism that everything’s going to be okay become hurtful dishonesty towards one’s children?
Jack Strong Takes a Stand by Tommy Greenwald
You think you’re busy? You should take a look at Jack Strong’s after-school calendar. Swimming, baseball, tutors…. there’s barely time in there to be a kid! Jack’s father is responsible for his over-committed, stressed-out son, who signs him up for activity after activity because his father feels it’s good for the college applications. It’s not until Jack stages a sit-in and vows not to leave his couch until he can quit some of his after-school activities that Jack’s dad begins to reconsider.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Lyra Belacqua leads a cozy life under the care of professors at Oxford University. She has no formal schooling, she plays with the other neighborhood children, and she has the constant companionship of a shape-shifting animal named Pantalaimon. While ignorance might be bliss, Lyra will learn more about her power-hungry, manipulative parents and what they are really up to.
Reality Boy by A.S. King
Gerald Faust’s mother is so caught up in her love for his sister, Tasha, that she finds ways to justify her distance for her son. Gerald’s mother is convinced that her son is learning disabled and remains willfully blind to Tasha’s abusive and troubling behaviors.
The Sacred Lives of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
Minnow’s father is so ready to prove himself loyal to the Kevinians that he chops off his daughter’s hands for her transgression of meeting up with a boy from the outside world.
Something Real by Heather Demetrios
Chloe arrives home from school one day to see that once again, her house is the set of a reality TV show, despite her mom’s promise that she would never have to be on television again.
Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman
When Bree’s mother discovers her daughter created a fake account in order to lure her ex-best-friend Lana into think she had a new friend, her mother joins in on the cyber-bullying.
Insignia by S.J. Kincaid
Tom is so ready to leave his itinerant, gambling-addicted father that when the army discovers him for his computer talents, he has no problem leaving his father… and having a chip implanted in his brain.
Readers, what other poor parents out there should be added to this list?
Amy Estersohn teaches middle school in New York and hopes she will never be considered a bad parent. Occasional reading-related tweets can be found at @hmx_mse.
Nerdy Book Club 
So many books have terrible parents! Lots of them are disinterested, so their kids can get into trouble. Nice list 🙂
nice list, many of those books i haven’t read yet, but i’ll check them out 🙂
Joseph’s dad in ORBITING JUPITER is the worst parent of 2015.
Oh I so agree! Heartbreaking!!!
The mom in e.E Charlton-Trujillo’s FAT ANGIE.
Great list, definitely thinking about reading some ofthose books :). Check out my site where I will be doing lots of book reviews for teenage books – fuzzy peach nation
A good list ☺
Zinnia and Harry Wormwood–the parents of Matilda in Roald Dahl’s book. Deliciously awful!
Love this post! Valerie’s parents in Jennifer Brown’s HATE LIST are terrible. Too self-absorbed and judge to see their daughter and meet her in the trauma where she happens to have landed.
Bitter Melon is another one my kids have loved. The mom is cruel and abusive and pushes her daughter to be perfect.
I’d say that Ada’s mom in The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is about the worst mom I’ve encountered recently.
I’d really like to read The Golden Compass, but the language is way to hard to understand! All those words I don’t know. I have to say I am no native speaker, and The Golden Compass is really a huge questioning mark for me!
Yours
MeerderWörter
Yes, the Dark Materials books are challenging reads, especially for a non-native speaker. They are worth it, though! You might try listening to them: the audiobooks feature a cast of different readers, and they are excellent.
Thank you for the information. I think I’ll try again, and learn a mass of new vocabulary. I love learning new vocabulary and my English improved much since I read it the last time. I think it is time, to try again.
I would really like to read ‘something real’. Sometimes bad parents make the story a whole lot funnier.
The parents from All the Bright Places, who seem to have just given up on their son, Finch.
YES! All The Bright Places has such a awful parents and is SO GOOD to see the comparison between Finch and Violet’s parents
The mother in The War that Saved My Life is awful!
Thank you for this wonderful list Amy! I love your thoughts about books.
Agreed!
Oh my, Minnow’s dad really did that? 😮
Jazz’s dad in the trilogy, I Hunt Killers, is a serial killer who schooled his son and Jazz is afraid he may be too much like dear old Dad.
The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin emotionally and physically abusive mom Matt tries to free himself and younger sister.
Split by Swati Avasthi- Teen brothers try to escape abusive father
Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams – prostitute mom recruits daughter into the trade
Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper – Gerald has spent years protecting his fragile half-sister from their abusive father
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch – Mentally ill mom abducts daughters and fills them with lies about their father
Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn – Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend Nick describes living with his abusive father.
Scowler by Daniel Kraus – a homicidal maniac escapes from prison and returns to the farm where Ry must protect himself his Sarah and their mother.
There are so many more but these few win the prize!
In March 2016 you can add Dill’s parents to this list in the soon to be published The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner! https://twitter.com/jeffzentner
Nice post…makes we wanna pick up some if this books to read
Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson fits this list beautifully, too. Though the book goes its own way soon enough, it starts out sounding like the answer to, “What if Charlie Bucket had Matilda Wormwood’s parents?”
I found the topic of this list interesting and something I think students would be interested in.