written by A. LaFaye Young TeensPaperbackJanuary 1, 2002

Nissa's Place

A. LaFaye

Scholastic. Inc.

The Year of the Sawdust Man

Bt Bound

Strawberry Hill

A young girl and an elderly woman are both preocccupied with the past in a seaside town in Maine in 1974.

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

Tandem Library

Cass Anne Marie came squalling into her mother's waiting arms, a mother who had known the hard edge of expecting after three previous stillbirths. A fierce winter crept over their small mountain community and took Cass Anne's life, but her mother-"cried her back"-crying so hard she brought her infant's soul back to the living, breathing world. The residents of the community believe this opened Cass Anne up to the devil so they shun her and her mama, protecting their families from the "devil child." In an effort to tip the cosmic scales in her favor, Cass Anne fills her days with small kindnesses for her unsuspecting neighbors. When she begins to receive omens of bad things to come, folks are certain the devil is using the child. Cass Anne isn't to be believed and it is only after tragedy strikes that the town is forced to see that omens can be a thing of beauty and a young girl can be an instrument of grace. With Pretty Omens, A. LaFaye has crafted a mesmerizing novel-in-verse inspired by the epic tradition and the myth of Cassandra that will transport you to a small Virginia mountain community where an ordinary girl becomes a hero. A. LaFaye is a writer, professor, mother of five, and wife. An associate professor of English at Greenville College, she is gearing up to launch their first MFA program in Multimedia Storytelling. She also teaches as a visiting associate professor in the graduate program in Children's and Young Adult Literature at Hollins University. LaFaye's other titles include: The Keening (Milkweed), Water Steps (Milkweed), and Worth (Aladdin).

Pretty Omens

Anchor & Plume

Water Steps

Kyna has a deep-seated (and well-earned) fear of the water. So when her adoptive parents announce that they have rented a summer house on Lake Champlain, she begs to be left behind for the summer. Alas, this is not possible. Yet even at the lake Kyna does her best to avoid the water, exploring instead the forests and hillsides, documenting them with her camera. But when her new friend, Tylo, draws her into his quest for strange water creatures, Kyna finds herself pulled into unexpected discoveries—not only about the lake, but about her own strange heritage.A novel that pulses with a passion for nature and the natural world, Water Steps is rich with love and loss, longing and renewal, a bit of mystery and a touch of fantasy. With an extraordinary gift for dialect, author A. LaFaye brings its rhythms to vivid life in this haunting reading.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

BRILLIANCE AUDIO ^

Every time she comes near water, Kyna feels the sinister pull of the depths trying to draw her down to a watery grave. Even the calm water in the bathtub reminds her of the torrential storm that took the lives of her sailing family when she was only a baby. But Kyna's adopted parents love nothing more than to swim and splash about in the lakes and streams, or even the local pool. When they decide to spend the summer at a beach house on Lake Champlain Kyna is convinced that they're trying to teach her something about water that she's not ready to learn. Little does she know that the water will reveal far more than she could ever have imagined.

Full Cast Audio: OneVoice

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by A. LaFaye. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by A. LaFaye

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by A. LaFaye. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nissa's Place

The Year of the Sawdust Man

Strawberry Hill

Nissa's Place

Pretty Omens

Water Steps

Water Steps