The Laura Line

by Crystal Allen

Overview

Thirteen-year-old Laura Dyson wants two things in life: to be accepted by her classmates and to be noticed by ultracute baseball star Troy Bailey. But everyone at school makes fun of her for being overweight, and Troy won't give her a second glance. Until their history teacher puts Laura front and center by announcing a field trip to the old run-down slave shack on her grandmother's property. Heck to the power of no way!

Her grandmother insists that it's more than just a shack; it's a monument to the strong women in their family—the Laura Line. Something to be proud of. But Laura knows better: if her classmates can't accept her now, they never will once they see the shack. So she comes up with the perfect plan to get the field trip canceled. But when a careless mistake puts the shack—and the Laura Line—in jeopardy, Laura must decide what's truly important to her. Can Laura figure out how to get what she wants at school while also honoring her family's past?

From Crystal Allen comes this touching and funny story of one girl's path to figuring out where she came from, and the unlimited possibilities of who she can become.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061992742
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/23/2013
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	1,123,917
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Crystal Allen is the author of How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy, which received a Florida Sunshine State Award Master List nomination and was a Junior Library Guild selection. She is also the author of the acclaimed middle grade novels The Laura Line, The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown, and The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: The Wall of Fame Game. She currently lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with her husband, Reggie, and two sons, Phillip and Joshua. You can visit her website at www.crystalallenbooks.com.

What People are Saying About This

Donna Gephart

“Laura Dyson’s sweet, sassy voice draws you into this delightful story of self-discovery and acceptance, unwavering friendship and the deep roots of one amazing family.”

Editorial Reviews

Praise for HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY: “The powerful mix of sibling rivalry, revenge, and hard-won redemption strengthens the perennial appeal of the naïve-underdog-makes-good plot; readers will come for the laughs and stay for the laughs.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Praise for HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY: “The powerful mix of sibling rivalry, revenge, and hard-won redemption strengthens the perennial appeal of the naïve-underdog-makes-good plot; readers will come for the laughs and stay for the laughs.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Gr 6–8—Eighth-grader Laura Dyson loves baseball, fashion, and Troy Bailey, the cutest boy in her class. Even the endless taunts of "Fat Larda" from resident queen bee Sunny Rasmussen aren't enough to sink her spirits. Laura's parents are departing for military training and she looks forward to spending two weeks with fabulous Aunt Carmen. Then the plan shifts and she is packed off to her grandmother's rundown farm that has, of all things, an intact slave shack. Deeply ashamed of the degradation and cruelty the shack represents, Laura wants nothing to do with it. Knowing Grandma's eagerness to share the significance of the structure and the adjacent family cemetery, the "Laura Line," the teen dreads the visit. When history teacher Mrs. Jacobs proposes a field trip to see the slave shack and cemetery, Laura is mortified by the idea and schemes to get it canceled. But in the ensuing antics, she finds she is descended from a powerful line of women going all the way back to the slave ship Amistad. While a side plot concerning Laura's irritating best friend feels a little forced, the protagonist's emotional transformation will resonate with readers. Generational bonds, notably the growth of the relationship between Laura and her grandmother, are beautifully depicted. With its humor and deep reverence for history, Allen's novel is an engaging treatment of the oft-told tale of looking within for beauty and strength.—Lalitha Nataraj, Escondido Public Library, CA

School Library Journal

Modern sass combines with a historical twist, making an uneven blend of middle school melodrama and the bitter realities of slavery. As she showed in How Lamar's Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy (2011), Allen has a flare for blending the austere with the audacious. In her new novel, she introduces readers to Laura Eboni Dyson, the latest in a long line of Lauras dating back to the Amistad. Overweight and popularity-challenged, the last thing Laura wants is to draw negative attention to herself. When her seventh-grade history teacher convinces Laura's grandmother, Mrs. Anderson, to allow her class to visit the crumbling slave shack at the rear of Mrs. Anderson's property, Laura is determined to derail the class trip. Baseball-loving Laura is deeply ashamed of the shack, which she calls "yesterday's history," and she thinks her classmates will scorn her for hanging onto that history. Laura may prove tiresome to readers; she's tough, strong and self-assured in one scene and downright mealy-mouthed in the next. By the time Laura stops wallowing and realizes her profound connection to a long line of Lauras, readers may meet her epiphany with a quizzical, "Is that it?" Smartly rigged with history and graced with quick dialogue, the novel sails with Laura's snappy quips. Unfortunately, the story's emotional core sinks, leaving readers unsatisfied and adrift. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY: “The tween book world has a new hero—Lamar Washington—as well as a brilliant new author who’s bound to win a Bubba-sized trophy herself!

Neal Shusterman

Crystal Allen shows us how our relatives, even the ones we’ve never met, sometimes have a way of gently weaving a path to exactly who we’re meant to be, our truest and best self.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice—author of THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY

Laura Dyson’s sweet, sassy voice draws you into this delightful story of self-discovery and acceptance, unwavering friendship and the deep roots of one amazing family.

Donna Gephart

Crystal Allen shows us how our relatives, even the ones we’ve never met, sometimes have a way of gently weaving a path to exactly who we’re meant to be, our truest and best self.

Kathryn Fitzmaurice-author of THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY

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