New Releases by Martine Leavitt

What if changing the biggest mistake of your life would be the biggest mistake of your life? Two teens in juvenile detention may have found a way to free themselves -- not just from their cells, but from the mistakes that got them locked up in the first place. Clem is a would-be poet who has been in "training school" ever since he caused the accident that maimed the nice lady who says she only wants him to do something fine with his life. But how, when even his parents have given up on him? Then Clem meets Finn, whose history is even more traumatic. Clem tries to help Finn adjust to prison, but when the boys are placed in solitary confinement, euphemistically called "administrative segregation," Finn deteriorates, both physically and mentally. He''s ranting, saying he''s found a portal in his cell and a way to change their lives -- past, present and future. And then he disappears. Clem is interrogated by prison officials, a social worker, a doctor and a mysterious man in a suit, who ask him about the days leading up to Finn''s disappearance. As he tells them the story, he puzzles over what really happened to Finn, and the unexpected clues he''s left Clem to find a better future. Key Text Features afterword author''s note biographical note dialogue epigraph poems scientific nomenclature

Based on true-life histories, Buffalo Flats shares the epic, coming of age story of Rebecca Leavitt as she searches for her identity in the Northwest Territories of Canada during the late 1800s. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Leavitt has traveled by covered wagon from Utah to the Northwest Territories of Canada, where her father and brothers are now homesteading and establishing a new community with other Latter-Day Saints. Rebecca is old enough to get married, but what kind of man would she marry and who would have a girl like her—a girl filled with ideas and opinions? Someone gallant and exciting like Levi Howard? Or a man of ideas like her childhood friend Coby Webster? Rebecca decides to set her sights on something completely different. She loves the land and wants her own piece of it. When she learns that single women aren’t allowed to homestead, her father agrees to buy her land outright, as long as Rebecca earns the money —480 dollars, an impossible sum. She sets out to earn the money while surviving the relentless challenges of pioneer life—the ones that Mother Nature throws at her in the form of blizzards, grizzles, influenza and floods, and the ones that come with human nature, be they exasperating neighbors or the breathtaking frailty of life. Buffalo Flats is inspired by true-life histories of the author’s ancestors. It is an extraordinary novel that explores Latter-Day Saints culture and the hardships of pioneer life. It is about a stubborn, irreverent, and resourceful young woman who remains true to herself and discovers that it is the bonds of family, faith, and friendship—even romance--that tie her to the wild and unpredictable land she loves so fiercely.

Heck is used to getting by on his own; his mother is unreliable, at best. But even a boy with a rich imagination is going to have a tough time managing when he and his mother find themselves without a home. It''s a good thing Heck has wit, strength, and a lot of optimism.

Born on the day the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, seventeen-year-old Calvin, a schizophrenic, sees and has conversations with the tiger, Hobbes, and believes that if he can persuade the strip''s creator, Bill Watterson, to do one more strip, he will make Calvin well.

Tuk the bighorn sheep is told he will be the one to save his herd, but he is young and would rather play with his bandmates than figure out why the herd needs saving. As humans encroach further and further into their territory, there is less room for the sheep to wander, food becomes scarce, and the herd''s very survival is in danger. Tuk and his friends set out to find Blue Mountain, a place that Tuk sometimes sees far in the distance and thinks might be a better home. The journey is treacherous, filled with threatening pumas and bears and dangerous lands, leading Tuk down a path that goes against every one of his instincts. Still, Tuk perseveres, reaching Blue Mountain and leading his herd into a new, safe place.

National Book Award Finalist A young woman makes a bargain with Death himself—and only true love can set her free—in this spellbinding young adult fantasy romance for fans of Robin McKinley. For most of her sixteen years, beautiful Keturah Reeves has mesmerized the villagers with her gift for storytelling. But when she becomes hopelessly lost in the king’s forest, her strength all but diminished, she must spin the most important of tale of life. With her fate hanging in the balance, she charms Death himself—a handsome, melancholy, and stern lord—with a story of a love so true that he agrees to give her a one-day reprieve. Now, she must find her true love in the next twenty-four hours, or else all will be lost. Keturah searches desperately while her village prepares for an unexpected visit from the king. But Lord Death’s presence is never far, hovering over all as mysterious happenings start to alarm her friends and neighbors. If she is to save her soul and the souls of the people she adores, Keturah must confront Lord Death one last time . . .

When sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she''s addicted to his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a trace, and the authorities don''t care. But after her friend Serena disappears, and when Call brings home a girl who is even younger and more vulnerable than her to learn the trade, Angel knows that she and the new girl have got to find a way out.

Diese Geschichte erzählt von mittelalterlichen Denkstrukturen über Liebe, Tod und Zauberei: Die junge Geschichtenerzählerin Keturah hat sich auf einen riskanten Handel mit dem Tod eingelassen, ihre Gnadenfrist verrinnt unaufhaltsam und Gerüchte schüren die Missgunst gegen sie. Ab 13.

Fifteen-year-old Tom is on the run, a kid on the streets out on his own, living by his wits. Tom also gets involved in a quest to find another lost teenager whose First Nations father is desperate for news of his son. In the process, Tom learns to survive and begins to get a sense of his own inner strengths. Tom knows that somewhere in his former life Mozart''s The Magic Flute has been crucially important to him. Though he doesn''t know when or how, when he finally gets to the opera''s performance, the past explodes his consciousness. Who, now, will he be? The Tom of the past? Or the new Tom, the person he has built out of his street experiences and emerging convictions?

Annakey must convince the Dollmage that she is a worthy successor.

"In this conclusion to the Marmawell trilogy, Marwen discovers what she must give up to gain peace in her land. The details and characterization will absorb readers" Cf. Our choice, 1999-2000.

" ... The wizard''s staff is sought by another whose past is intertwined with Marwen''s. And what''s more, he holds the dreadful power of the Prism Moon to which Marwen finds herself inexorably drawn"--Page 4 of cover.

American Association of Mormon Letters Award Canadian Library Association Notable Book Canadian Children''s Book Centre Our Choice Citation When news of dragon trouble comes, Marwen doesn''t scoff even though dragons haven''t flown in the land of Ve for many generations. Her destiny has been woven, and it will lead her to lost lands, to the powerful magic of the Wizard''s staff and to a mystery no one should have to face alone.