Books with author Laura Smith

Mister Mole's Stove is decodable with the knowledge of the 26 phonetic alphabet sounds and the ability to blend those sounds together, plus the "o-e" phonogram. A word list in the back of the book introduces the vocabulary used in the story. Puzzle words ( sight words) and vocabulary can be pre-taught with supplementary learning cards available from Flyleaf Publishing.

Whispers in the Wind is a young adult novel. Cassie Andrews is a high school senior math scholar who’s trying to get over an unhappy relationship with the varsity quarterback. She discovers his interest in her is only to the extent he can receive help from her to pass math and avoid academic expulsion from the football team. Her final humiliation occurs when he invites another girl to the football banquet.She spends a summer visiting her aunt and uncle at Pelican’s Cove, an island in the Gulf of Mexico. There she plans to pursue an interest in art at her aunt’s Gallery and forget about guys. While on the island she meets Jason Hunter, who works at her uncle’s marina. She decides he could be a safe sailing instructor and companion for the summer with no romantic involvement.After Cassie finds that Jason is taking a summer school calculus course to prepare for the Air Force Academy, she becomes suspicious of his motive for their friendship. Does he, too, only need her to be his math tutor? She vows that this relationship will not echo her previous experience. Jason’s former girlfriend intrudes, and a hurricane provides suspense as the developing romance evolves. Jason and Cassie’s uncle are caught in the storm and receive injuries while sailing her uncle’s sailboat to safe harbor.Cassie discovers that Jason received the Senior Award of Excellence in Mathematics in high school. Final resolution of the misunderstanding occurs in the hospital after the sailing accident when she volunteers to help him catch up on the math he’s missed, and they finally admit their true feelings to each other. He indicates that he had misjudged her, not realizing his “sailor and artist was a math expert, too.” She blushed, squeezed his hand, and thought, ‘Misjudged…if he only knew’.

Twelve-year-old Ashley Enright lives in Donnybrook, a small town on the coast of Maine, with her parents and younger sister, Kelly. In the summer, she loves to wear her New York Mets baseball cap, ride her bicycle and write stories. She enjoys spending time with her best friend, Josh Stewart, who draws comic books featuring super-heroes. She also enjoys solving mysteries and is becoming known in town for “Ashley Enright Investigations.” Ashley isn’t nosey, just curious and intelligent.On a hot summer day, Ashley and Josh decide to go swimming at Miller’s Pond rather than visit the new community pool. They meet a new friend, Kaitlyn, who could help Josh realize his dream of having his comic books published. They also sadly discover that one of Donnybrook’s last wildlife refuges is about to disappear forever. Ashley and Josh unearth a secret that could save Miller’s Pond and its wildlife inhabitants. Will it be in time to save the habitat?