Spring nears as Amanda's family faces extreme loss and sadness. When Amanda returns to school, she tries to be cheerful, but this pretending exhausts her. On her way home, a near accident gives Amanda another jolt. Her friends and teachers help her to be her real self and make a plan to get through the awful sadness. At Berean Bible church, they are greeted warmly and celebrate Easter. In late spring the sixth grade puts on another fundraiser, the play Our Town. Though she determines t...

The Storyville Project is a publication of the nonprofit organization, the Lakes Area Writers Alliance and is a collaboration of creative nonfiction and fiction from our Minnesota-based author/members. Because our members come from all walks of life, you will find a variety of subjects and styles within.The Lakes Area Writers Alliance's goal is to encourage and support our fellow writers.Everyone published in this book, and all who worked to see it...

When uncovering secrets, Amanda risks losing friendships she has tried so hard to make. In a Central Minnesota town, Beltran Elementary sixth-grader Amanda Hamann determines to solve a crime against her new friend. Someone has put a tortured doll in Linda's locker and Amanda is determined to find out who. Though the principal and Linda tell her to leave the investigation in the principal's hands, she doesn't.When she ends up in the hospital after a sledding acciden...

Amazing Amanda and the Crazy School Carnival includes comedyand yet realistic life issues. Readers will laugh, giggle, worry, and cheer Amanda's attempts at growth. Amanda is a pre-adolescent girl who deals with body issues, middle-school drama, angst with new girls, coming of age issues such as seeing beyond the surface, handling responsibilities of leadership, and questions about faith. Set in a mid-size central Minnesot...