When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune

Shayla, a twelve-year-old African American girl growing up in Houston, reveals her troubled world through her writing notebooks, telling of her sister's misdeeds with boys, a neighbor girl's tales of abuse, and her father's sudden reappearance.

Teen & Young Adult

Williams, Lori Aurelia

Literature & Fiction

Demco Media

So I just made another note to add to my blue notebook later, when the house had cooled off: Tia's nature is boiling out of her like hot soup out of a pot, and Kambia Elaine just flew in from Neptune. Shayla Dubois lives in a Houston neighborhood known as the Bottom, where life is colorful but never easy. She wants only two things out of life: to become a writer and to have a nice, peaceful home. Instead, her life has been turned upside down. Shayla's mama kicked her sister, Tia, out of the house for messing around with an older guy, and months later Tia still hasn't come home. Shayla's father, Mr. Anderson Fox, has rolled back into town and has been spending a lot of time at the house with Mama. And Shayla still doesn't know what to make of her strange new neighbor, Kambia Elaine. Kambia tells Shayla the most fantastic stories: that the Lizard People turn into purple chewing gum when the sun comes up; that Memory Beetles gather up and store people's good memories; that she is a piece of driftwood from the Mississippi River. All Shayla knows for sure is that Kambia's mother has a lot of male visitors and that Kambia doesn't look too healthy. When Kambia tells Shayla about the vicious Wallpaper Wolves that hide in her walls to catch bad little girls, Shayla knows something is wrong. But she doesn't know how she can help Kambia when she can't get past her stories, and when Tia still hasn't come home. Told lyrically and gracefully by debut author Lori Aurelia Williams, When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune shows how complicated life can get when children are forced to grow up too quickly, while it also celebrates the bonds of a strong, loving family.

Simon&Schuster Children's Publishing

"That's the way I felt, like something had eaten parts of me, the best parts. There would be no journal entry when I got back to the house this time. Like Grandma said, I just didn't have the words." Shayla feels that she's been replaced now that her father's new wife has given birth to a baby -- born on Shayla's own birthday. As upset as she is, though, she can't confide in her best friend, Kambia Elaine, because she doesn't want to diminish Kambia's happiness at finally being part of a loving family. Yet Kambia's life is not without difficulties of its own: Someone has been sending her evil messages and packages that threaten her well-being. Neither can Shayla confide in her new friend, Lemm, because she discovers that he has his own troubles -- although she can't imagine the tragedies from his past that he's still keeping secret. As she did in When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune, Lori Aurelia Williams (whom Publishers Weekly has called "a writer to watch") has written an emotionally charged novel of unconditional love, told sensitively in luminous prose.

Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues

Shayla, a twelve-year-old African American girl growing up in Houston, reveals her troubled world through her writing notebooks, telling of her sister's misdeeds with boys, a neighbor girl's tales of abuse, and her father's sudden reappearance.

S&S Books for Young Readers

Things are changing for thirteen-year-old Shayla Dubois, no matter how hard she tries to fight it. Her father and his new wife have a baby girl named Gift -- born on Shayla's own birthday. Gift has Shayla's special eyes (the eyes of a writer), her father's last name, and the love that should have been Shayla's. But jealousy is the least of Shayla's problems. Someone's been sending her best friend, Kambia Elaine, cruel packages that remind Kambia of her traumatic past. There is also Shayla's new friend Lemm who makes her skin tingle in the weirdest way. He's handsome, smart, smooth talking, and has demons of his own to hide. But in order to help her friends, Shayla must first learn how to help herself.

I always did right by Amina even though it was sometimes major difficult to take care of a daughter that I loved with all my heart, but never wanted in the first place.China Cup Cameron might miss school or fall asleep in class sometimes, but she's trying hard to be a good mother to Amina, her two-year-old daughter. When tragedy befalls the small family, China must quit school and work full-time to make ends meet. But the only place in town that's willing to hire a fourteen-year-old high-school dropout is Obsidian Queens, a strip club, and China is forced to make some difficult and potentially self-destructive decisions.
Through China's harrowing, emotionally resonant story, for which Lori Aurelia Williams won the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship while it was still a work-in-progress, the author of When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune creates a window into the all-too-real world of a teen mother faced with unthinkable choices.

Broken China

Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Read by Heather Alicia Simms Approx. 11.25 hours 7 cassettes Shayla is feeling miserable because on her thirteenth birthday, her father's new wife gives birth to Gift, whom Shayla sees as a "replacement" for her. Yet she can't confide her feelings to anyone. She'd like to talk to her best friend. Kambia Elaine, who is now in a loving home and is finally on the road to happiness- but someone is sending Kambia evil messages and packages that threaten her sanity. And Shayla discovers that her new friend, Lemm, in who she is sort of interested, has problems of his own—but they don't compare to the secret that he is still keeping from Shayla. Heather Alicia Simms received an MFA from Columbia University in acting. She has made appearances in various television series, such as Third Watch, Homicide: Life on the Streets, Law &amp; Order, and As the World Turns. She also narrated When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune.

Listening Library

I always did right by Amina even though it was sometimes major difficult to take care of a daughter that I loved with all my heart, but never wanted in the first place. China Cup Cameron might miss school or fall asleep in class sometimes, but she's trying hard to be a good mother to Amina, her two-year-old daughter. When tragedy befalls the small family, China must quit school and work full-time to make ends meet. But the only place in town that's willing to hire a fourteen-year-old high-school dropout is Obsidian Queens, a strip club, and China is forced to make some difficult and potentially self-destructive decisions.

When seventeen-year-old Maxine Banks from Houston, Texas convinces her boyfriend to marry her, she finds out that marriage isn’t quite what she had in mind.

Maxine Banks is Getting Married

Roaring Brook Press

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

Books by Williams, Lori Aurelia

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

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune

Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune

Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues

Broken China

Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues

Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues

Broken China

Maxine Banks is Getting Married