New Releases by A. Lafaye

2020 Kansas Notable Book STARRED REVIEW! "The historic town of Nicodemus, Kansas, springs to life through expressive artwork done in softly fluid lines and hues, conveying all of the hope and joy of the movement."—Foreword Review A family leaves behind sharecropping to settle the frontier and find a new kind of freedom. When Dede sees a notice offering land to black people in Kansas, her family decides to give up their life of sharecropping to become homesteading pioneers in the Midwest. Inspired by the true story of Nicodemus, Kansas, a town founded in the late 1870s by Exodusters—former slaves leaving the Jim Crow South in search of a new beginning—this fictional story follows Dede and her parents as they set out to stake and secure a claim, finally allowing them to have a home to call their own.

Bartholomew Botts loves pets. Unfortunately, when Bartholomew brings his brand-new frog to class, his teacher, Mr. Patanoose, declares: No frogs in school! How will Bartholomew keep his animal friends close at hand and follow Mr. Patanoose''s rules, too? Full color.

Cass Anne Marie came squalling into her mother''s waiting arms, a mother who had known the hard edge of expecting after three previous stillbirths. A fierce winter crept over their small mountain community and took Cass Anne''s life, but her mother -"cried her back"--crying so hard she brought her infant''s soul back to the living, breathing world. The residents of the community believe this opened Cass Anne up to the devil so they shun her and her mama, protecting their families from the "devil child."In an effort to tip the cosmic scales in her favor, Cass Anne fills her days with small kindnesses for her unsuspecting neighbors. When she begins to receive omens of bad things to come, folks are certain the devil is using the child. Cass Anne isn''t to be believed and it is only after tragedy strikes that the town is forced to see that omens can be a thing of beauty and a young girl can be an instrument of grace.

From A. LaFaye, a heartwarming tale of high adventure, family lore, and learning to conquer fear. Shape-shifting selkies, baby-stealing fairies, and spitting in water as a test for liars: Kyna''s adoptive parents have an endless stream of stories to keep her amused. But no matter how hard they try, Kyna can''t get over her fear of the water. As a small child, a storm at sea claimed her family, and nearly took her own life. Now even bathwater sets her on edge. When Kyna''s parents announce that they''ve rented a summer house on "magical" Lake Champlain, Kyna begs to be left home for the summer. No such luck. Once there, she explores the forests and the hillsides and resolves to stay as far from the water as possible. But when a new friend sets out to prove that there are selkies in the lake, Kyna finds herself far too close to the water, and dangerously close to a truth she can''t believe.

Young Gabe''s is a story of heartache and jubilation. He''s a child slave freed after the Civil War. He sets off to reunite himself with his mother who was sold before the war''s end. "Come morning, the folks take to the road again, singing songs, telling stories, and dream-talking of the lives they''re gonna live in freedom. And I follow, keeping my eyes open for my mama. Days pass into weeks, and one gray evening as Mr. Dark laid down his coat, I see a woman with a yellow scarf ''round her neck as bright as a star. I run up to grab her hand, saying, Mama?" Gabe''s odyssey in search of his mother has an epic American quality, and Keith Shepherd''s illustrations—influenced deeply by the narrative work of Thomas Hart Benton—fervently portray the struggle in Gabe''s heroic quest. Selected as a 2012 Skipping Stones Honor Book and for the 2012 IRA Teacher''s Choices Reading List. A. LaFaye hopes Walking Home to Rosie Lee will honor all those African American families who struggled to reunite at the end of the Civil War and will pay her respects to those who banded together through the long struggle for freedom. She is the author of the Scott O''Dell Award-winning novel Worth and lives in Tennessee with her daughter Adia. Keith Shepherd is a painter, graphic designer, and educator working out of Kansas City, MO. His painting "Sunday Best" is part of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum''s permanent collection. He describes his work as being "motivated by family, religion, history, and music."

LaFaye surpasses the lyricism and emotional depth of her sparkling debut, The Year of the Sawdust Man, in this sequel. It''s been two years since Nissa''s mother, Heirah Rae, left the family and Depression-era Harper, La., for a new life in Chicago. Nissa, now 13, believes she must preserve her mother''s presence in the household. When Heirah Rae calls home to announce her birthday gift to Nissa, a trip to Chicago, she upsets the tenuous relationship between Nissa, her father, Ivar, and her stepmother, Lara. Still feeling abandoned but hungry for time with her mother, Nissa decides to travel back to Chicago with Heirah Rae, who shows up on their doorstep. During her stay in Chicago, Nissa notes how her mother has blossomed away from Harper''s nosy scandalmongers. LaFaye achieves just the right balance between Nissa''s introspection and the adventures she has with her mother. The intricate prose mirrors the fragile complexity of Nissa''s feelings about returning to Harper: ""My heart shrunk a little as the train pulled away, but I knew I''d made the right choice. I could feel it like a warm blanket on a cold nightAa tight, satisfied feeling deep down inside strong enough to carry me home."" Readers will be moved as Nissa comes to view Heirah Rae''s flight as an act of courage and a spur for Nissa to make her own dream of a library in Harper come true is most successful when he mixes his different approaches into the original sort of magic realism he creates in the title tale, which concerns an erotically charged encounter between a virginal Irish au pair, Nula, and a Moroccan student, Henri Tatahouine, in Paris. The hallucinatory quality of Henri''s account of his life leaves Nula emotionally blistered, as though she had been in the Sahara. The comic, horrifying """"Cats in Space,"""" which tells the tale of a group of kids who use helium balloons to launch a kitten into the air, is similarly effective. Though uneven, Kalfus''s collection is ambitious and daring, with smart, fluid prose and an abundance of surprises.

Born into an artistic and eccentric family, Lyza laments that her only talent is carving letters into wood. That is, until the devastating loss of her mother to influenza during the pandemic of 1918. The illness has settled on their small coastal town in Maine, and the funeral marches pass Lyzas house almost daily. When her unconventional father begins to prepare for the return of his dead wife, Lyza is the only one to protect him from being committed to the work farm. Awash with grief and longing for her mother, Lyza journeys into the thin territory that divides the living from the dead. Relying on her courage, and an undiscovered talent, Lyza must save her father and find her own path. From the celebrated author of Worth, a powerful story of love that persists beyond the grave.

Fourteen-year-old Stella, orphaned just after the Civil War, fights to keep her family''s plantation and fulfill her father''s desire to turn land over to the people who have worked on it for generations, but first she must find her father''s hidden deed and will.

In 1934, when her mother leaves her and her father, eleven-year-old Nissa tries to cope with the gossip of her small Louisiana town and the changes in her own life.

In 1936, fourteen-year-old Nissa takes a stand against racial prejudice and for her own integrity and independence, drawing on the support of her individualistic mother, her father, stepmother, and some of the inhabitants of their Louisiana town.

After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.

Leaving her home in Wisconsin in 1865, sixteen-year-old Katherine sets out for Chicago to prove to her family that she can make a life for herself.

During the summer of 1976, twelve-year-old Raleia Pendle feels like a misfit with her hippie parents and begins a friendship with the town recluse.