Books in Laurel-Leaf contemporary fiction series

The Wave is based on a true incident that occured in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969.The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a "new" system to his students. And before long "The Wave," with its rules of "strength through discipline, community, and action, " sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of "The Wave" and realize they must stop it before it's too late.

Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child.Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people?

What are Amy and Adam going to do about their love life? Neither Amy's traditionalist Japanese parents nor Adam's snobby, upper-class mother will accept their relationship. To make things worse, Amy and Adam are involved in the "color game" at school, an experiment that's designed to make students aware of class and racial prejudices.Now the experiment threatens to alienate Amy from her friends and tear her apart from Adam. She knows it's time to rebel against the color game. But will the rest of the class follow her lead?

At the end of the school term, Catherine waits with her bags for her father to pick her up. She waits and waits... for three weeks, making excuses for him and hoping he'll show up.Harry Ames, Catherine's father, calls one night, and she's soon on her way to Nova Scotia, where Mr. Ames lives in a small house. When Catherine's parents divorced she was very young, and so she barely knows this man, her father. Then one night she finds herself driving in an old car with three drunk and delirious men in the backeseat, her father among them. Catherine's fear and anger envelope her, and she thinks her mother must have been right about him.But Harry Ames fills Catherine's days with his love and enthusiasm for poetry, nature, and travel as they share wild, sunlit times together near the sea. Then at night, there is always the fear...Will Catherine ever understand her father? Can she ever begin to know this moonlight man?

“A powerful story. . . . Travis is Everyteen: part insecure hell-raiser, part closet intellectual, prone to both sneers and tears. Hinton continues to grow more reflective in her books, but her great understanding, not of what teenagers are but of what they can hope to be, is undiminished.”—Kirkus ReviewsAn ALA Best Books for Young AdultsAn ALA Quick Pick

Shifting in time between the years preceding the Civil War and the years immediately following it. "Beloved" is the story of how an escaped slave tries to overcome the tragic death of her daughter. Morrison's lyrical narrative weaves together the supernatural and the tangible, and the result is a dazzling achievement and a spellbinding reading experience.

What are Amy and Adam going to do about their love life? Neither Amy's traditionalist Japanese parents nor Adam's snobby, upper-class mother will accept their relationship. To make things worse, Amy and Adam are involved in the "color game" at school, an experiment that's designed to make students aware of class and racial prejudices.Now the experiment threatens to alienate Amy from her friends and tear her apart from Adam. She knows it's time to rebel against the color game. But will the rest of the class follow her lead?

Stotan: A cross between a Stoic and a Spartan.Walker, Nortie, Lion, and Jeff are the best of friends and members of their high school swim team. Together they pledge to accept the challenge of Stotan Week -- a series of grueling physical and emotional tests of endurance.This is one memorable week in their senior year; a time in which they live together and share their innermost feelings. Little do they know that the magic of Stotan Week is the start of something that will change their lives forever.