Laurel Leaf books

After a tumultuous year in New York City, the Austins are spending the summer on the small island where their grandfather lives. He’s very sick, and watching his condition deteriorate as the summer passes is almost more than Vicky can bear. To complicate matters, she finds herself as the center of attention for three very different boys. Zachary Grey, the troubled and reckless boy Vicky met last summer, wants her all to himself as he grieves the loss of his mother. Leo Rodney has been just a friend for years, but the tragic loss of his father causes him to turn to Vicky for comfort—and romance. And then there’s Adam Eddington. Adam is only asking Vicky to help with his research on dolphins. But Adam—and the dolphins—may just be what Vicky needs to get through this heartbreaking summer.

Until she learns to control it, Nancy's gift of extrasensory perception brings her more trouble than she can handle.

Orphaned Kit Tyler knows, as she gazes for the first time at the cold, bleak shores of Connecticut Colony, that her new home will never be like the shimmering Caribbean island she left behind. In her relatives' stern Puritan community, she feels like a tropical bird that has flown to the wrong part of the world, a bird that is now caged and lonely. The only place where Kit feels completely free is in the meadows, where she enjoys the company of the old Quaker woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond, and on occasion, her young sailor friend Nat. But when Kit's friendship with the "witch" is discovered, Kit is faced with suspicion, fear, and anger. She herself is accused of witchcraft!

A collection of riddles about fruits and vegetables.

When Frank spends the summer with Kendra and her family in their New York City apartment, a friendship develops as the two teenagers set off on a scavenger hunt exploring the city's museums, restaurants, and other landmarks.

When Lucy Grantham chose to marry Reggie Denby, she little realized that the suitor she rejected, Bryce Fairfield, had decided to kill her. If he could not have Lucy, then no one would! Bryce, a brilliant scientist, planned no ordinary murder. His scheme involved luring the unsuspecting Lucy to his underground laboratory to exact his scientific vengeance. And here he encompassed not only his own doom, but also that of future generations as yet unborn!

A high school teacher uses the guise of feminist philosophy to manipulate the lives of a group of girls with chilling results.

Sixteen-year-old Barney has only fleeting memories about his past but, as a voluntary patient at the institute for experimental medicine, he knows he is different from the terminally ill patients surrounding him. His involvement with the bitter, slowly dying, Mazzo brings Barney hope, pain, and a moment of heroic glory.

A collection of short stories featuring characters from earlier books by Chris Crutcher.

Three teenagers' lives are changed forever when they thoughtlessly steal a stop sign from a dangerous intersection and a young mother is killed in an automobile accident there.

In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, eleven-year-old Mercy and her family and neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians and their French allies, and forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to new lives and some still hope to be ransomed.

Marie, the only black girl in the eighth grade willing to befriend her white classmate Lena, discovers that Lena's father is doing horrible things to her in private.

The author describes his experiences growing up as a Mexican American in Fresno, California.

During the summer internship on a newspaper, fourteen-year-old Vicki develops a love-hate relationship with Chris, the only male intern, and writes a sensational story about her friend Faith which the other interns try to get her to destroy.

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really--human or beast? Which tastes sweeter--blood or chocolate?From the Paperback edition.

With her parents splitting up, 16-year-old Sammie Davis may not want to feel a thing, but feelings happen. For starters, she's plenty angry. Her dad's leaving their upstate New York home and moving clear across the country. Her mother--well, she's packing up and relocating to New York City with Sammie, who has no say about any of it. Overnight Sammie is forced to deal with change. And one change spawns another: Roles get reversed, old and new friendships tested, and sexual feelings awakened. It's a scary time. But as Sammie realizes that things can't stay the same forever, that even the people she loves and trusts the most can disappoint her, she begins to accept that change isn't always bad. It's how you cope, jumbled feelings and all, that counts. And as she copes, Sammie's sense of self emerges proud and strong.From the Paperback edition.

When fifteen-year-old Dana loses the new boy she has a crush on to her manipulating best friend, her talk-show-host parents introduce her to a handsome young tennis star.

Suspicious and uneasy about the atmosphere at her new boarding school, fourteen-year-old Kit slowly realizes why she and the other three students at the school were selected.

The daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry for help.

During the receding Fifth Ice Age seven men expelled from underground New York in 2650 and one deserter of that isolated colony attempt to travel to London, where contact has been made with other people.

"Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention...and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET

The relationship of a star of the local roller rink and a sensitive girl from a neighboring town comes to an abrupt and tragic end.

Still troubled by his older brother's violent suicide, eighteen-year-old Dillon becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her. When Dillon Hemingway is forced to witness his brother Preston's suicide, his life understandably seems to fall apart. His quest to make it whole again involves Stacy Ryder, Preston's girlfriend, who is left with more than a memeory of Dillon's dead brother, and Jennifer Lawless, a star high school basketball player with a secret too monstrous to tell and too enormous to keep. His antagonist are a vicious cycling gang, a single-minded school principal, and Jennifer's father, a brilliant lawyer with a chilling disregard for human sensitivity. Chris Crutcher's Chinese Handcuffs is a story about a time when life seems too overwhelming to confront. It is also a story of courage and acceptance, told with power and sensibility.

Motown and Didi, two teenage loners in Harlem, become allies in a fight against Touchy, the drug dealer whose dope is destroying Didi's brother, and find themselves falling in love with each other.

Carlota is a girl who was raised as a vaquero. Her father wants her to be a "boy" and her grandma wants her to be a girly girl. Carlota is an awesome character and in this book she shines as a girl and a boy.

A 12-year-old girl deals with problems of overweight and family relationships.

Despite some reservations, sixteen-year-old Jessie joins her companions from the previous year's adventure on the Colorado River for a legal rafting trip through the Grand Canyon.

A varsity letter jacket: it's exclusive, nearly unattainable, revered . . . and everything that's screwed up about Cutter High, as far as T. J. Jones is concerned. That's why T. J. is determined to have the Cutter All Night Mermen-the unlikeliest swim team a high school has ever seen-earn letter jackets of their own.It won't be easy. For one thing, they don't even have a pool. They will fight for their dignity, they will fight with each other, and sometimes they will just fight. And then they will realize that a single moment can bring lifelong heartache or lifelong friendship. For T. J. and his crew of misfits, the quest may be far more valuable than the reward.

Thirteen-year-old Meg envys her sister's beauty and popularity. Her feelings don't make it any easier for her to cope with Molly's strange illness and eventual death.

The kidnapping is long past. Janie Johnson can never change what happened to her or to the families that love her. But finally life seems to be settling down for the Springs and the Johnsons.The worst part of this new life for Janie is that Reeve Shields is away at college. Janie misses him terribly, no matter how many e-mails they send each other. As for Reeve, he's finding life at college overwhelming. He goes to work at the school radio station, hoping a late-night gig will give him what he craves--popularity and fame. Reeve gets his chance to be the voice on the radio, and when he tells the most fascinating story he knows, his show becomes a sensation. Reeve is so sure that Janie will never discover what's making hisbroadcast such a hit that he doesn't stop himself. But what will be the price for Janie?As Janie knew, the facts about the little girl on the milk carton had to be uncovered, no matter how much pain they caused. Now the truth about what Reeve is doing must come out. Whose voice will help Janie when she must face not only her incredible past, but also her unknown future?With the page-turning suspense that made The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie? best-sellers, Caroline B. Cooney once again explores the meaning of betrayal, the power of words, and the intensity of love.From the Hardcover edition.

From book description on Goodreads: "Mandy wants a pen-pal. Tracey answers the ad. The two girls write to each other about their families, their lives, their ambitions and their fears. But there are dark secrets surrounding Mandy and Tracey - secrets they can hardly bear to confront, let alone share."