I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for everything and everybody in my life. My family has been so supportive, especially my guys, Reggie, Phillip, and Joshua. Everything I do, I have you in mind because I love you.
Thank you, Frank Morrison, for The Laura Line’s amazing cover.
Thank you, Trish Lowery, for doing edits on The Laura Line. And, thank you, Rebecca Springer, Pat Baker, and Barbara Scott for the final ones. A special thanks goes to Juliet White, Tim Kane, and Petula Workman, my critique partners, for reading through all five thousand versions of this story. ☺
Thank you, Christine Taylor-Butler, Neal Shusterman, and Donna Gephart, for your unfailing support. Thanks to all the writers, editors, and friends who encouraged me.
I’ll give props to the 2010–2011 sixth and seventh graders of Bobby Shaw Middle School in Pasadena, Texas; Quail Valley Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas; and Sartartia Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas, for their awesome story ideas!
Thanks to Bob Brinkman, Kim Barker, and Ana Clark, three incredible specialists from the Texas Historic Commission. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I will forever be grateful to my editors, Kristin Daly Rens and Sara Sargent, and my agent, Jennifer Rofé. Thank you for surrounding me with understanding and patience. Thanks for helping me find and keep Laura’s voice throughout her story, so that she could resolve her issues her way. I believe the four of us have formed our own “Line,” and I’m proud to be a part of it.
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. The Laura Line is her second novel. She currently lives in Sugar Land, Texas, with her husband, Reggie, and two sons, Phillip and Joshua. You can visit her online at www.crystalallenbooks.com.
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Other Books by Crystal Allen
HOW LAMAR’S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY
Credits
Cover art © 2013 by Frank Morrison
Cover design by Torborg Davern
Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE LAURA LINE
Copyright © 2013 by Crystal Allen
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Allen, Crystal.
The Laura Line / Crystal Allen.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When Laura Dyson’s seventh grade history teacher schedules a class trip to the slave shack on her grandmother’s farm, Laura is forced to come to terms with her family’s past and what it means for her future.
ISBN 978-0-06-199274-2 (hardcover bdg.)
[1. Schools—Fiction. 2. Self-perception—Fiction. 3. Popularity—Fiction. 4. Grandmothers—Fiction. 5. African Americans—Fiction. 6. Overweight persons—Fiction. 7. Slavery—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A42527Lau 2013
2012022165
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
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13 14 15 16 17 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780062208446
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