YA novel about a girl in a group home

[kxthleen]

bear with me here, cause I have very limited info! I read a book when I was a pre-teen (between 2001-2005, probably) with a female protagonist who, from what I can remember, lived with a lot of other girls, who she doesn't get on with. there's a line in the book about her dying her hair 'dandelion fluff/fuzz white/blonde' and leaving her roots brown to give them something to talk about. I believe there's a reference in there to a romantic novel, of some kind, but that's about all I can remember! really hope someone can help me cause this has been bugging me for years...

Lost books

[angelia]

I read these 2 books about 8ish years ago, so I don't remember the titles but I remember the details and google isn't helping me at all.
Book #1: All I can remember about this book is that it about a girl and a unicorn, they travel through a few tapestries. Not a picture book.
Book #2: I remember a lot more about this book. It is about a boy and a few friends who are in a town that has a door that is guarded in town that is separated by a stream or river with eels that eat people and their faces change based on the person's face that they ate. I think the book had a small leopard or something next to the door. I remember the door took them to like a fantasy place and he found like his uncle in there that he thought was dead.

Any help at all is extremely grateful, I've thought about this so much for the past few years.