Bøger af Norma Jean Lutz

"No guy in his right mind would ever want to date a girl who plays around with those creepy things. It's abnormal." This curse has been pronounced on Marcy Hankins by her twin sister referring to Marcy's insect collection Marcy Hankin's world has been turned upside down ever since Spence Caldwell arrived in her hometown of Andonburg, Oklahoma. Why the state football champ would want to come to an out-of-the-way little burg like Andonburg for his senior year is anyone's guess. Spence and his aunt and uncle have taken up residence in the old Kendallwood estate and have plans to restore the place. That means the estate is no longer Marcy's private haven for insect collecting. Losing her special getaway place is just the beginning. Soon Marcy's caught up in her twin sister, Cissy's, scheme to claim Spence Caldwell as her own. Cissy's plans include convincing Marcy to try out for cheerleader - something Marcy has neither the time nor the desire to do. Cissy detests every bug in Marcy's many collections. Spence's presence changes everything in Marcy's world. Caving to pressure and trying to fit in, Marcy finds she's denying the very thing she loves. She loses sight of who she truly is. But then she learns that Spence Caldwell has a few secrets of his own. What actually did bring Spence to Andonburg? And what could it possibly have to do with Marcy and her love of bugs?

The Clash of Cultures - Mozart Meets Heavy Metal! Arianna Stefanoff--concert violinist: rock music sounds like pots and pans banging togetherReid Lavelle--rock star extraordinaire: doesn't know an oboe from a piccolo...So how did this unlikely pair wind up on a weekend date in New York City? Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Handel. Arianna Stefanoff is familiar with the works of all these and more. Growing up in a musical family, she has an intimate knowledge of classical composers. On the other hand, her knowledge of the latest rock stars, and their current hits, borders on zilch. Being steeped in classical music blended well while the Stefanoffs lived in the culturally-heavy city of Boston. But once her symphony-conductor father accepted the conductor position for the St. Louis Symphony, Arianna is suddenly catapulted out of her comfort zone. Her new set of friends have scant appreciation for her flavor of music. She doesn't think much of theirs either. Then her friend, Kara, persuades her to enter a contest, a contest in which the winner is treated to a weekend date in New York City with rock star, Reid Lavelle. Explosions ensue when, against all the odds, Arianna wins. The girls at her school are not only jealous but furious knowing she's not even a fan of Reid's. Reid's ego is mangled when he learns his date knows nothing about his music. All signs point to disaster. Is Arianna destined to be ostracized forever just because of a dumb contest? And could it possibly be that her own narrow-mindedness regarding Reid is aiding in her misery?

The strangest thing about the nightmares was that Serena never knew the screams were hers until Aunt Loula woke her. In her dream, the screams were always Kris's. Always Kris's. Aunt Loula's husky voice would croon as she patted Serena, "There, there. It's all right. It's all a dream. Go back to sleep now." But it was never all right. And she almost never went back to sleep, for fear it would come again... The accident that injured her seven-year-old brother, Kris, was all Serena's fault. Her mother and Kris are in Texas at a rehabilitation center, and Serena has been exiled to her farmer relatives in Oklahoma. Serena misses the accelerated school she attended in Minneapolis. She misses her family, and she misses her best friend, Brent. Through the hot Oklahoma summer, Serena struggles with a heavy load of guilt. By mid-summer when her mother and Kris come for a visit, the sight of Kris in a wheel chair is almost more than Serena can bear. Open friendship is offered to Serena by her extended family, by a stray dog named Rompers, and by a young man named Vince-who seems to know a lot about dogs, and about wounded hearts. What will it take for Serena to emerge from the morass of guilt and self-pity so she can truly see the sterling friends with whom she's been surrounded during her Oklahoma exile?

Latina Harmen knew she was going to hate Missouri. "There's nothing in Missouri!" she had told her father when he announced they were to spend the summer there.And now she knew she had been one hundred and ten percent right. Latina had taken for granted that she would be spending another happy summer vacation with her friends at Periwinkle Cove on the East Coast. After all, her family had spent summers there as long as she could remember. Now, in the summer before her senior year, she would be stuck in a hick town with no one around but her boring parents and bratty younger brother. How could she have guessed the beauty that lay waiting for her in those brooding hills? How was she to know she would meet fascinating people, and that she would learn more about herself than she'd ever known? How was she to know she would meet a special someone whose friendship and support would change her life forever?

Lori froze. Maritza turned to look at her with perfectly made-up eyes. Her hair was fluffed high on top and cascaded down into long soft curls, as though a professional stylist had just put a finishing touch on it before pushing her on stage. Her vivid aqua blouse was neatly tucked into a pair of slim black jeans. Black boots completed the ensemble as neat as a pin. She must have grown six inches-tall and willowy. What had Amy said? A knockout? That was an understatement. What could be more traumatic to a sixth grader than to have her best friend and neighbor move away? The answer? To have that friend return in eighth grade, totally changed. But then, Lori Ann Layton doesn't believe her former best friend has changed. Lori believes even though friend, Maritza Novales, is devastated by her parents' divorce, and even though she now looks like a model for Seventeen Magazine-she's still the same on the inside. After all, Lori knows Maritza better than anyone, or so she thinks. And now she sets about to prove it. Lori is convinced her troubles stem from her father's election to the school board. He pushed through a ruling for city-wide academic eligibility for sports participants at all schools. Four first-string football players at East Birch Jr. High, are off the team. As editor of the East Birch Junior High newspaper (Panther Paw Prints), Lori needs interviews from the team. But team members are upset with her because of her father's actions. Her friend, Amy, who is also on newspaper staff, says Lori should write an editorial saying she disagrees with the board's decision. But Lori isn't sure she is in disagreement with the ruling. It's a confusing time in Lori's life. But then-insight and help come from the very person Lori least expects.

Tessa Jurgen knows all too well that prejudice and hatred do not vanish overnight. Because of her past, the man she loves has been falsely arrested and thrown in jail. Because of her past she cannot forgive herself or her adversaries, and she cannot begin to share her burdens with the Lord. Yet her happy memories keep resurfacing. When Gaven MacIntyre asked her to marry him, Tessa felt secure and cherished for the first time in her life. Now those memories leave only a bitter aftertaste. There's turmoil in Tulsa, and also in the brave heart of one woman. Will Tessa be yet another victim of an unforgiving world? Or the victor lifted high by the only force greater than hate?

When country girl Tessa Jurgen learns that her bootlegging father has promised her in marriage to a man she doesn't love, she seeks refuge in the progressive boomtown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The year is 1921.As governess to the children of an oil baron, Tessa is befriended by the black household servants, Chloe, Jasper and Pole. Together they become a family. But the handsome schoolteacher Gaven MacIntyre is also interested in forming a partnership with Tessa, despite his worry that she is "overly friendly" to black people.Racial tensions remain at a simmer until Jasper and a friend are accused of "accosting" a white girl. Will Tessa stand up for what she knows is right, even if it means losing Gaven? Or will she be drawn into Tulsa's tempest of prejudice and hatred?

She's determined to get what she wants out of life. When Clarette Fortier is on assignment, the competition had better run for cover. An up-and-coming reporter for a New York newspaper, Clarette is now in Tulsa, hot on the trail of the inside story of the race riots that plagued that city. The year is 1921. When Clarette is not on assignment, she is as determined to find the right man as the inside scoop. Shelby Harland is her current date du jour, a man who knows how to show a girl a good time. Also vying for her time is Erik Torsten, a big handsome Swede. But Clarette is uncomfortable when Erik talks about God and the Bible. Accustomed to finding and printing the truth whatever the cost, Clarette may not foot the bill this time. Her job is in jeopardy, and she's received threats from the Klan. When she looks death in the face, it's time to find out what truly matters in life.

Latina Harmen knew she was going to hate Missouri. "There's nothing in Missouri!" she had told her father when he announced they were to spend the summer there. And now she knew she had been one hundred and ten percent right. Latina had taken for granted that she would be spending another happy summer vacation with her friends at Periwinkle Cove on the East Coast. After all, her family had spent summers there as long as she could remember. Now, in the summer before her senior year, she would be stuck in a hick town with no one around but her boring parents and bratty younger brother. How could she have guessed the beauty that lay waiting for her in those brooding hills? How was she to know she would meet fascinating people, and that she would learn more about herself than she'd ever known? How was she to know she would meet a special someone whose friendship and support would change her life forever?

Marcy Hankin's world has been turned upside down ever since Spence Caldwell arrived in her hometown of Andonburg, Oklahoma. Why the state football champ would want to come to an out-of-the-way little town like Andonburg for his senior year is anyone's guess. Spence and his aunt and uncle have taken up residence in the old Kendallwood mansion and have plans to restore the place. The girls at Andonburg high are in a dither; the football jocks have their noses out of joint. But for Marcy it means the vast wooded acreage of the Kendallwood estate is no longer her private haven for insect collecting. Which means she'll be unable to finish her entomology project in time for the fair; her goal of winning Grand Champion is in jeopardy. Losing her special getaway place is just the beginning. Soon she's caught up in her twin sister, Cissy's, scheme to claim Spence Caldwell as her own. Cissy's plans include convincing Marcy to try out for cheerleader - something Marcy has neither the time nor the desire to do. Cissy detests every bug in Marcy's many collections. According to Cissy: "No guy in his right mind would ever want to date a girl who plays around with those creepy things. It's abnormal."Spence's presence changes everything in Marcy's world. Caving to pressure and trying to fit in, Marcy finds she's denying the very things she loves. She loses sight of who she truly is and she's miserable. But then she learns that Spence Caldwell has a few secrets of his own. What actually did bring Spence to Andonburg? And what could it possibly have to do with Marcy and her love of bugs?

It takes a blind man to show Race the way… The moment Race heard the gunshots explode, he knew it was Vince. Somehow he just knew. Throwing the remote across the room, he leaped over the back of the ratty couch and flew down the dimly-lit stairs out into the hot August night.In this riveting teen novel, Race Paloma's world violently turns upside-down after his older brother, Vince, is murdered in a drive-by. Without Vince's strong leadership, their once-powerful, hood-ruling pack unravels at the speed of light. The Deuce Dragons threaten takeover in their Cincinnati Over-The-Rhine hood.As life closes in, Race has nowhere to turn. Vince's tight homie and joint-leader of their pack, Wynn, is sent off to juvie; the Deuce Dragons pressure Race to be jumped in; his mother drowns her grief over Vince's death in extended drunken bouts; then Race is caught shoplifting and comes face-to-face with the slammer. Could his world get any worse?Vince used to say: "My entire life, every freaking part of it, has been brought to you by the color drab. And I do mean the drabbiest."Race's new employer, a blind piano tuner named Stan, says: "…The truth of the matter is, each man colors his own world." Who's right?What voice will Race listen to? Set in the year, 2001, this teen/young adult novel, replete with gangs, knives, turf wars, car theft, ghetto lifestyle, and drive-by shootings, is reminiscent of S.E. Hinton's Outsiders. High drama, and intense conflict will have readers-both young and old- turning pages till the wee hours of the morning.