We have a beginning.
Last night I pleaded with Death, but he turned a bony back to me, pushed Hope into the corridor and shut the door.
So what’s it about?
Carlie Edmund has everything: a loving family, good friends, a perfect home and wealth and status; then in her junior year of high school all of that changes. How will Carlie take on the challenges of living in a different world, a world where she doesn't "fit" and where nothing is as it should be?
"The Princess of Las Pulgas is a beautifully written, meaningful, young adult novel. Carlie Edmund will jump off the page and pull you into a poignant and timely story of loss and ultimate gain. She'll take you into a world where stereotypes are shattered and truth is discovered deep beneath the surface. "
- Francisco X. Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real World, a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2009, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2009, and a 2010 YALSA TOP 10 Best Books for Young Adults
"C. Lee McKenzie paints beautiful pictures with words in a story about losing everything and finding it again in places you least expected. From the first page you'll be drawn into the poignant world of Carlie, The Princess of Las Pulgas, falling in love with her as she deals with the loss of her dad and then almost everything she thinks is important. A must read for lovers of finely crafted contemporary fiction." - J.E. MacLeod, author of Waiting To Score
Publication date: April '09 WestSide Books Evelyn Fazio Ask about the Teacher's Guide
Something's wrong.
It’s not a heart-grabbing noise like when somebody jiggles the doorknob to see if it’s locked.
It’s not a bitter smell like the electrical short we had last month,
when all the breakers popped. No. It’s something in the air, something
like a ghost making its way through the room. And it can’t be Monster,
not after last night.
Shawna Stone is sixteen going on twenty-five.
Already deeply scarred, she has learned to survive with a tough
attitude and a thin blade. Her journey is destined to be short. Sliding
on the Edge enters the world of a desperate teen and her disillusioned
grandmother, each with secrets that stir mutual distrust. As these two
unlikely companions struggle to co-exist we are reminded that the human
spirit has the capacity to overcome even the deepest suffering.
Excerpt: Into the Sea of Dew By C. Lee McKenzie based on Blinkin’ Winkin’ and Nod
In the week before the moon found them beneath the bloated bellies of storm clouds, they drifted in the lifeboat without sight of land. The boys, the stowaways, the survivors.
And Miranda.
She hunkered under the tarp and a soggy blanket, peering out at them with worry and a sizable dose of fear. She was adrift in a foreign sea, among strangers. Yet one of those three had hauled her from the water and saved her life.
Which one? Maybe Winker. He was skinny and had some kind of tic in his cheek that made his left eye twitch, especially when he looked her direction. Or was it the guy whose name started with B? What was it? Blandy? Blakie? He had a vacant look, and his lips were always moving, like he was telling himself secrets.
is my short story in The First Time.
Excerpt: Premeditated Cat By C. Lee McKenzie
Nikki stepped into the classroom the smell of Lysol and polish and just a hint of last semester stirred in the air. Luckily, someone had opened a window, so smells of summer were already filtering inside.
She wouldn’t be here on this beautiful day if Clark didn’t pound on her mom all the time, if he would move out, if this were any other class, but art. Art was a refuge, her only one in summer.
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Hutchinson McQueen is trapped between an abusive mother and an absentee father. Shackled by poor vision and poor reading skills, he squeaks through classes with his talent for eavesdropping and memorizing what he hears. After another suspension from school and suffering through one of his mother’s violent attacks, he escapes to a friend’s house that turns out to be a meth lab. The lab is raided and Hutch lands in juvenile detention. When the court sentences him to six months in a new juvenile program, he meets a teacher with Alzheimer’s who will change his life and hers.
