Laura Ruby - Free Library Land Online - Suspense

The Map of Stars

Mon, 25 May 2020 07:26:55 +0300

The thrilling conclusion to two-time National Book Award finalist Laura Ruby's epic adventure through the streets of an alternate New York City.

It was only a few days ago that Tess Biedermann, Theo Biedermann, and Jaime Cruz, along with a mysterious figure from the past, managed to survive an assault on the location of the latest clue in the Morningstarr cipher—and, in the process, made a shocking discovery about their own connection to this one-hundred-sixty-year-old enigma.

Now the friends are divided. Tess and Theo have no idea what the photo they found in Greenwood Cemetery means, but Jaime is convinced that they do, and that they've been keeping their own secrets from him. As the city continues to break around them, suddenly solving the greatest mystery of the modern world seems less important than saving their own friendship.

The stakes of completing the cipher, however, have never been higher. Darnell Slant, real estate...

Lily's Ghosts

Wed, 12 Nov 2003 13:49:07 +0200

Thirteen-year-old Lily is furious.She and her mother are forced to move again after her mother's break up with the latest loser boyfriend. Now they're broke and they'll have to spend the winter in Uncle Wes's creepy house in Cape May, New Jersey.And the place is crawling with ghosts.From the spiteful teenager who mistakes Lily for her high school nemesis to the restless spirit of her eccentric Uncle Max, Lily is haunted by a host of unhappy phantoms. But why are they here? And what do they want?With the help of an intriguing new guy, local boy Vaz, Lily tries to find out. But just as they are on the verge of piecing together the mystery, a casual family dinner turns into a beachfront showdown with guests both invited and unexpected, both corporal and supernatural. And the outcome is anything but certain.*An Edgar Award Nominee for Best Juvenile Mystery*A Parent's Choice Silver Honor for Fiction*The Center for Children's Books Best Books of 2003 List*One of the Chicago Public...

The Clockwork Ghost

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 03:55:54 +0200

National Book Award finalist Laura Ruby returns with the middle chapter in her epic alternate-history adventure—a journey that will test Tess, Theo, and Jaime and change their lives forever. It was only a few weeks ago that the Biedermann twins, Tess and Theo, along with their friend Jaime Cruz, followed the secrets of the Morningstarrs' cipher further than anyone had in its century-and a-half history—and destroyed their beloved home in the process.But the Old York Cipher still isn't solved. The demolition of 354 W. 73rd Street only revealed the next clue in the greatest mystery of the modern world, and if Tess, Theo, and Jaime want to discover what lies at the end of the puzzle laid into the buildings of New York by its brilliant, enigmatic architects, they will need to press on.But doing so could prove even more dangerous than they know. It is clear that the Morningstarr twins marshaled all the strange technology they had...

Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 03:55:53 +0200

National Book Award 2019 Longlist Nominee!From the author of Printz Medal winner Bone Gap comes the unforgettable story of two young women—one living, one dead—dealing with loss, desire, and the fragility of the American dream during WWII.When Frankie's mother died and her father left her and her siblings at an orphanage in Chicago, it was supposed to be only temporary—just long enough for him to get back on his feet and be able to provide for them once again. That's why Frankie's not prepared for the day that he arrives for his weekend visit with a new woman on his arm and out-of-state train tickets in his pocket.Now Frankie and her sister, Toni, are abandoned alongside so many other orphans—two young, unwanted women doing everything they can to survive.And as the embers of the Great Depression are kindled into the fires of World War II, and the shadows of injustice, poverty, and death walk...

The Boy Who Could Fly

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:47:53 +0200

Second part of the wildly imaginative fantasy set in a New York where people can fly and the daughter of the richest man in the universe can make herself invisible...It's six months since the end of the Invisible Girl, and Gurl, AKA Georgie, is attending a posh girls school that she hates, and hardly speaking to Bug, who seems to be too busy making adverts and endorsements to see his old friend. But when a giant octopus appears in the Hudson and a giant sloth kidnaps a squealing heiress and takes her to the top of the Empire State Building, our two unlikely heroes realise that something very strange is going on. Could it have something to do with the pen that can think for itself? Where's the Professor when you need him? And who is the artist punk they call the Chaos King?

The Shadow Cipher

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 23:47:52 +0200

"The first book in an exciting new series that's great for fans of steampunk, history, mystery, and magic. Let the puzzles begin!" (Brightly.com)From National Book Award finalist and Printz Award winner Laura Ruby comes an epic alternate history series about three kids who try to solve the greatest mystery of the modern world: a puzzle and treasure hunt laid into the very streets and buildings of New York City. It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher—a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been...

The Invisible Girl

Sun, 01 Nov 2015 23:47:52 +0200

Step into a wildly imaginative world with an invisible girl, a flying boy and where being weird is brilliantly wonderful! A magically fantastical story from American author, Laura Ruby. In a vast and sparkling city where nearly everyone can fly, 12-year-old Gurl is trapped. Orphaned and lonely, she believes she is nothing more than a flightless "leadfoot", until one fateful night when she discovers that she has the power to make herself invisible. But even with this newfound talent, Gurl can't hide from a giant rat man with a taste for cats, a manipulative matron with a penchant for plastic surgery, and a belligerent boy named Bug. Gradually, Gurl learns to control her power and teams up with Bug to figure out who and what she is. Their quest takes them on a wild ride where they confront mind-bending monkeys, an eccentric genius with a head full of grass and a pocket full of kittens and the handsome but lethal Sweetcheeks Grabowski – the gangster who holds the key to Gurl's...

Good Girls

Wed, 01 Nov 1995 23:47:52 +0200

Some people would say this is the story of a photograph. How it was taken and what happened to me after the whole world saw it. And it is. But it's also the story of a lot of other things.So look at the picture all you want. I am so much more than what you see.

Play Me

Wed, 01 Nov 2000 23:47:52 +0200

Eddy knows how to play the game.

He is, after all, the writer, director, and cameraman--the mastermind, really--behind the hit online TV show Riot Grrl 16. When it wins a contest to be aired on MTV (and it obviously will--have you seen the competition?), he'll be famous. Then there's the game of love. Eddy knows all the tricks, and his favorite girls are the ones with the fishnets and cherry lipstick and legs up to there. The ones who know he doesn't make any promises. The ones who are cool with it.But as graduation looms, everything and everyone starts deviating from Eddy's master script. Never in a million years did he expect to be facing off again with the unapproachable, perfect Lucinda Dulko. For once in his life, he's not in control--and to be with Lucinda, he's willing to get swept up in the game. But what happens to a player when the rules suddenly change?Can Eddy find a way to win it...

I'm Not Julia Roberts

Mon, 01 Nov 1993 23:47:53 +0200

Does every second wife look like Julia Roberts? Lu Klein certainly doesn't, and her life is anything but glamorous. When she married a man with children, Lu had no idea that she was also marrying his shrewish ex-wife, Beatrix. And Beatrix had no idea that making a new home with her second husband would mean welcoming her wicked teenage stepdaughter, Liv. And Liv's mother Roxie had no idea that so many new and exciting boyfriends could make her long for the stable life she and her ex had too eagerly left behind.
In this tightly interconnected collection of ten short stories, author Laura Ruby chronicles the progress of Lu, Beatrix, Roxie and their various steps and exes as they take the perilous plunge into the maelstrom of the so-called "blended family." Both ruefully funny and wickedly insightful, I AM NOT JULIA ROBERTS offers finely-observed, honest and affecting takes on kids, step-kids, divorce, remarriage...and the movie Stepmom.

Bone Gap

Fri, 01 Nov 1991 23:47:53 +0200

"Bone Gap marks Laura Ruby as one of fiction's most original voices. She is capable of moving you to tears, terrifying you on deep and dreamlike levels, and making your heart shout with happiness. This book is magic realism at its most magical."
—E. Lockhart, author of We Were LiarsBone Gap is the story of Roza, a beautiful girl who is taken from a quiet midwestern town and imprisoned by a mysterious man, and Finn, the only witness, who cannot forgive himself for being unable to identify her kidnapper. As we follow them through their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures, acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.

Bad Apple

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:47:53 +0200