Laurie Halse Anderson-Visiting Author April 2016: Home

After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

“[R]emarkable for its strong sense of time and place and for its nuanced portrait of slavery and of New York City during the Revolutionary War.”
—Hornbook

“Chains offers a perfect springboard for classroom discussion and history lessons. But don't dismiss it as academic fodder. Battle scenes and politics, heroic acts and secret plots fill its pages, making it as exciting for readers who prefer action (as do many boys) as it is inspiring for those more drawn to stories about people and relationships (as girls often are).” — Christian Science Monitor

In this compelling sequel to Chains, the perspective shifts from Isabel to Curzon and we learn what it takes for runaway slaves to forge their own paths in the midst of the chaos of the American Revolution.

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia’s mother is busy saving other people’s lives. Her father is away on business. Her stepmother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia’s head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way – thin, thinner, thinnest – maybe she’ll disappear altogether.
In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl’s chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia.

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a normal life, put aside her own painful memories, even have a relationship with Finn, the hot guy who obviously likes her but is hiding secrets of his own.

Will being back home help Andy’s PTSD, or will his terrible memories drag him to the edge of hell, and drugs push him over? The Impossible Knife of Memory is Laurie Halse Anderson at her finest: compelling, surprising, and impossible to put down.

Meet Kate Malone – straight A science and math geek, minister’s daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell “Early Decision Harvard” Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it, as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all – or so she thinks. Then, things happen like a string of chemical reactions: first, the Malones’ neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri’s little brother. The days are ticking by and she’s still waiting to hear from the only college where she’s applied: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of control – and then, something occurs that truly blows it all apart.

Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

High school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background–average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But since he got busted for doing graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn’t believe. His new physique attracts the attention of queen bee Bethany Milbury, who just so happens to be his father’s boss’s daughter, the sister of his biggest enemy–and Tyler’s secret crush. And that sets off a string of events and changes that have Tyler questioning his place in the school, in his family, and in the world.

In Twisted, the acclaimed Laurie Halse Anderson tackles a very controversial subject: what it means to be a man today. Fans and new readers alike will be captured by Tyler’s pitchperfect, funny voice, the surprising narrative arc, and the thoughtful moral dilemmas that are at the heart of all of the author’s award-winning, widely read work.

Ashley Hannigan doesn’t care about the prom, but she’s the exception. It’s pretty much the only good thing that happens in her urban Philadelphia high school, and everyone plans to make the most of it – especially Ash’s best friend, Natalia, who’s the head of the committee and has prom stars in her eyes.
Then the faculty advisor is busted for taking the prom money. Suddenly, Ash finds herself roped into putting together a gala dance out of absolutely nada. But she has help- from her large and loving (if exasperating!) family, from Nat’s eccentric grandmother, from the principal, from her fellow classmates. And in making the prom happen, Ash learns some surprising things about making her life happen, too.

Listen up! You’ve all heard about the great men who led and fought during the American Revolution: but did you know that the guys only made up part of the story?

Of course they did, and with page after page of superbly researched information and thoughtfully detained illustrations, acclaimed novelist and picture-book author Laurie Halse Anderson and charismatic illustrator Matt Faulkner prove the case in this entertaining, informative, and long overdue homage to those independent dames!

"Whether the women were disguising themselves as men in order to be soldiers, raising money for suffering soldiers, sewing and knitting for the troops, or participating in protests or a boycott of British goods, their actions were significant." —School Library Journal