Lorie Ann Grover – författare

After receiving a full-ride scholarship to Mills College for Girls, it appears Sarah’s future is clear ... until she walks into a poetry class led by Mr. Haddings, a student teacher from thenearby University of Washington. Suddenly, life on the UW campus seems very appealing, and Sarah finds herself using her poetry journal to subtly declare her feelings for Mr. Haddings. Convinced he is flirting back, she sets off for school in the rain with a poem in her back pocket—one that says how she really feels.But everything changes when Mr. Haddings feels a thud on his front bumper and finds Sarah in the street with blood pooling beneath her.

Where does a firstborn girl fit in a world dominated by men?When Tiadone was born, her parents had two choices: leave their daughter outside the community to die in the wilds, or raise her as male and force her to suppress all feminine traits. Now, as the first female living as male in her village, Tiadone must prove her father didn’t make a mistake by letting her live.As her male initiation approaches, Tiadone knows every eye on the community is on her, and desperately wishes to belong and finally be accepted. But at every step, traditional feminine gifts and traits emerge, and the bird she's been twined with is seen as a sign of the devil.Worse, as Tiadone completes her rites she finds she is drawn to her male best friend in ways that are very much in line with the female gender.Confused and desperate, Tiadone tries to become what she must be while dealing with what she indeed has become: a young woman who may be able to stand up to her despotic rulers and uncover her real purpose in life.“A fantasy that reads like a lost history tome and deftly examines issues of gender. An engrossing story with welcome depths” – Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

Seventh grader Kay Garber's happy home is made up of four generations of women: Great Gran Eula; Grandma Margie; Kay's mother, Karine; and Kay. But on the evening Grandma Margie tells her family she has a lump in her breast, Kay's world is changed forever.Struggling with issues of popularity in junior high school, trying to understand her too-perfect mother, dealing with her feelings about friends, and coming to terms with Grandma Margie's cancer diagnosis and illness, Kay is awhirl with questions that have no easy answers. But Kay is a survivor, and as she journeys through these difficult months she comes to a new understanding of the complexities and importance of faith and family.Told through forthright and perceptive poems in Kay's own voice, Loose Threads reverberates with emotion and depth and will leave no reader untouched.

"I'm leaving."Dad's words come as a complete shock to Essie. How can he just walk out on her and the family, especially when Mom is pregnant?Essie keeps her dad's leaving a secret. Then Essie's classmate, Chris Crow, disappears, and everyone finds out he's been kidnapped. Is Chris okay? Is Dad ever coming back? Essie is left to wonder if people really have any control over what happens in their lives.Finally, after a startling incident with a family friend, Essie finds the strength to hold on tight to all that she has left -- and in the process realizes that the bonds of love and family do hold a person together.Inspired by true events, Hold Me Tight is a moving and powerful novel. An author's note provides further information about kidnapping and the Amber Plan programs that are in use today to help communities find abducted children.

Our feet slipinto satin shoeswith stiff shanks,hard boxing,tight elastic,and slippery ribbonsthat wrap and endin hard knots.The frayed edgesare crammedout of sight.We stand.A row of bound feetrisesto its toes.For as long as she can remember, Clare and her family have had a dream: Someday Clare will be a dancer in City Ballet Company. For ten long years Clare has been taking ballet lessons, watching what she eats, giving up friends and a social life, and practicing until her feet bleed -- all for the sake of that dream. And now, with the audition for City Ballet Company right around the corner, the dream feels so close. But what if the dream doesn't come true? The competition for the sixteen spots in the company is fierce, and many won't make it. Talent, dedication, body shape, size -- everything will influence the outcome. Clare's grandfather says she is already a great dancer, but does she really have what it takes to make it into the company? And if not, then what? Told through passionate and affecting poems in Clare's own voice, On Pointe soars with emotion as it explores what it means to reach for a dream -- and the way that dreams can change as quickly and suddenly as do our lives.