Best Selling Books by Martine Leavitt

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.

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 . . .

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 detention, 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 detention 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

A teen boy deals with an imaginary tiger, schizophrenia, and his strange connection to a famous comic strip in this young adult coming-of-age story. Seventeen-year-old Calvin has always known his fate is linked to the comic book character from Calvin & Hobbes. He was born on the day the last strip was published; his grandpa left a stuffed tiger named Hobbes in his crib; and he even has a best friend named Susie. As a child Calvin played with the toy Hobbes, controlling his every word and action, until Hobbes was washed to death. But now Calvin is a teenager who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Hobbes is back—as a delusion—and Calvin can''t control him. Calvin decides that if he can convince Bill Watterson to draw one final comic strip, showing a normal teenaged Calvin, he will be cured. Calvin and Susie (and Hobbes) set out on a dangerous trek across frozen Lake Erie to track him down. Praise for Calvin "The novel has a fresh, funny voice that never diminishes the seriousness of schizophrenia. Leavitt delivers an imaginative exploration of mental illness, examining what''s real and what''s true in this magical world." — Booklist, starred review "Written as a letter to Watterson (to fulfill a make-up English assignment), the first-person narrative eschews quotation marks and dialogue tags, further blurring the lines between real life and what''s in Calvin''s head. . . . Memorable." — Horn Book, starred review "Equal parts coming-of-age tale, survival adventure, and love story, this outstanding novel also sensitively deals with an uncommon but very real teen issue, making it far more than the sum of its parts." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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?

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.

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.

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

From the author of the National Book Award finalist "Keturah and Lord Death" comes a classic story of animals and survival in the vein of "Watership Down." Tuk, a bighorn sheep of the Canadian Rockies, leads his herd beyond the snares of man and the wiles of predators to the freedom of the Blue Mountain.

"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.

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.

" ... 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.