Books published by publisher Laurel Leaf

The Printz Award–winning classic gets a new look.Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Kit’s Wilderness examines the bonds of family from one generation to the next, and explores how meaning and beauty can be revealed from the depths of darkness.The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old coal-mining town, to care for Kit’s recently widowed grandfather. When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in playing a game called Death. As Kit’s grandfather tells him stories of the mine’s past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look to find the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors. A Michael L. Printz Award WinnerAn ALA Notable Book A Publishers Weekly Best Book

HIS DARK MATERIALS IS NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SERIES STARRING DAFNE KEEN, RUTH WILSON, JAMES McAVOY, AND LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass are available together in a collectible His Dark Materials boxed set perfect for any fan or newcomer to this modern fantasy classic series that has graced the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Book Sense, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.These thrilling adventures tell the story of Lyra and Will—two ordinary children on a perilous journey through shimmering haunted otherworlds. They will meet witches and armored bears, fallen angels and soul-eating specters. And in the end, the fate of both the living—and the dead—will rely on them.Phillip Pullman’s spellbinding His Dark Materials trilogy has captivated readers for over twenty years and won acclaim at every turn. It will have you questioning everything you know about your world and wondering what really lies just out of reach.Honors and Praise for His Dark Materials:An Entertainment Weekly All-Time Greatest NovelA Newsweek Top 100 Book of All Time"Arguably the best juvenile fantasy novel of the past twenty years." —The Washington Post "Very grand indeed." —The New York Times “Pullman is quite possibly a genius.” —Newsweek Don't miss Philip Pullman's epic new trilogy set in the world of His Dark Materials!** THE BOOK OF DUST **La Belle SauvageThe Secret Commonwealth

This diary of a runaway girl and her search for a home celebrates hope, resilience, and happy endings. Holly's run away before, but this time she actually gets away—and what felt like an escape at first soon becomes a daily struggle for survival. She is smart and resourceful, and she manages to make it across the country on her own. But how long can this go on? It's getting harder to avoid the truth—Holly is now homeless. Runaway is a remarkably uplifting portrait of a girl still young and stubborn and naive enough to believe there's a better place for her in the world.

Together, they won college football's highest award.This is a true, memorable, compassionate story of courage and love between two brothers. In 1973, while John Cappelletti was winning the Heisman Trophy as the outstanding college football player in America, his younger brother Joey was suffering from leukemia. But John, now a running back for the Los Angeles Rams, had a very special medicine for Joey. It was called touchdowns. And John scored them in bunches because they were "Something for Joey." The story of the Cappelletti family is a story of courage you will never forget.

THIRTEEN-YEAR OLD EVA wakes up in the hospital unable to remember anything since the picnic on the beach. Her mother leans over the bed and begins to explain. A traffic accident, a long coma . . .But there is something, Eva senses, that she’s not being told. There is a price she must pay to be alive at all. What have they done, with their amazing medical techniques, to save her?

Two boys, separated by the canyons of time and two vastly different cultures, face the challenges by which they will become men.Coyote Runs, an Apache boy, takes part in his first raid. But he is to be a man for only a short time.More than a hundred years later, while camping near Dog Canyon, 15-year-old Brennan Cole becomes obsessed with a skull that he finds, pierced by a bullet. He learns that it is the skull of an Apache boy executed by soldiers in 1864. A mystical link joins Brennan and Coyote Runs, and Brennan knows that neither boy will find peace until Coyote Runs' skull is carried back to an ancient sacred place.In a grueling journey through the canyon to return the skull, Brennan confronts the challenge of his life.

The middle-grade answer to Christina Baker Kline's New York Times bestselling Orphan Train, this is a shockingly timely historical adventure. Imagine being taken from your home. Imagine your mother is the one who lets it happen. This is the fate that befalls the Kelly children. It’s 1856, and their widowed mother has sent them west from New York City because she’s convinced that she can’t give them the life they deserve. The Kellys board an “orphan train” and are taken to St. Joseph, Missouri, where their problems only grow worse. It was bad enough that they had to say goodbye to their mother, but now they’re forced to part ways with their fellow siblings as well. Thirteen-year-old Frances won’t stand for it. She’s going to protect her brothers and sisters, even if it means dressing up like a boy and putting herself in danger. Will Frances be able to save her siblings? And what about her mom—was splitting up their family really her greatest act of love? Ride the rails with Frances and her siblings to find out! “This is as close to a perfect book as you’ll buy this year.” –VOYA

Eleven interlinked stories tell the tale of a boy coming of age in Kailua-Kona, a Hawaiian fishing village. Sonny Mendoza is a little different from the rest of the men in his family. Salisbury explores characters like Aunty Pearl, a full-blooded Hawaiian as regal as the queens of old; cool Jack, from L.A., who starts a gang and dares Sonny to be brave enough, cruel enough, to join; mysterious Melanie, who steals his heart; and Deeps, the shark hunter.But the most memorable character is the sea itself: inviting, unpredictable, deadly. Mendoza men are brave men, but Sonny's courage is of a different kind. Why can't he love and trust the water as the men of his family are meant to do?

I was born to the name of Rachel Weatere in the year 1684, more than three hundred years ago.The one who changed me named me Risika, and Risika I became, though I never asked what it meant. I continue to call myself Risika, even though I was transformed into what I am against my will.By day, Risika sleeps in a shaded room in Concord, Massachusetts. By night, she hunts the streets of New York City. She is used to being alone.But now someone is following Risika. Someone has left her a black rose, the same sort of rose that sealed her fate three hundred years ago.Three hundred years ago Risika had a family -- a brother and a sister who loved her. Three hundred years ago she was human.Now she is a vampire, a powerful one. And her past has come back to torment her.This atmospheric, haunting tale marks the stunning debut of a promising fourteen-year-old novelist.

WELCOME TO NOWHERE.Danny’s dad takes a job as caretaker at a marina on the shore of a vast, frozen lake in Harvest Cove, a tiny town tucked away in Canada’s Big Empty. If you’re looking for somewhere to hide, this is it.It’s the worst winter in years. One night, running in the dark, Danny is attacked by a creature so strange and terrifying he tries to convince himself he was hallucinating. Then he learns about Native American legends of a monster that’s haunted the lake for a thousand years. And that every generation, in the coldest winters, kids have disappeared into the night. People think they ran away.Danny knows better. Because now the beast is after him.From the Hardcover edition.