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Laugh till You Cry

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Overview

THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Cody doesn't like Texas. He and his mom were only supposed to spend the summer there, helping out his grandmother. But Cody's grandmother is sick and needs them to stay. Now he's the new kid at the local middle school and all his friends are back in California. You'd think Cody's cousin Hayden would show him the ropes. Not only is Hayden in the same grade, he lives next door. But Hayden doesn't want anything to do with Cody.

Cody's luck begins to change when he befriends Officer Ramsey, a policeman and aspiring stand-up comic. Officer Ramsey appreciates Cody's jokes so much, he pays Cody for the material! But it's no laughing matter when a crime is committed at school and Cody becomes a suspect. Cody is going to need more than jokes to solve this mystery--and clear his name.

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Author Information

Bio of Joan Lowery Nixon

Whether it's engrossing historical dramas, chilling mysteries, suspense-filled page-turners, or adventure stories, kids, teachers, and librarians love the books of Joan Lowery Nixon. Nixon is half Californian, half Texan. She has a degree in journalism and credentials in elementary education. Nixon has written over 130 books for children from preschool age through young adult--including science books, co-authored with her husband, geologist Hershell Nixon. Her books have garnered numerous awards and accolades, including the Western Writers of America Golden Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile and the Texas Institute of Letters Award. Many of Nixon's books have won state children's choice awards. She is the only four-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery. Nixon has four children and several grandchildren. Nixon describes the pleasure she gets from writing mystery and suspense: "When I was young I discovered an evening radio program called I Love a Mystery. It was intriguing, suspenseful, and at times absolutely terrifying, and the title was correct. I did love a mystery--on radio, in films, and especially in books. Maybe I'm really a detective at heart because much later in my life, when I began to write books for young people, I discovered writing mysteries was even more fun than reading them. "A mystery begins to develop in my mind when something sparks an idea and a question grows from it. What would it be like to move into a house in which a murder had taken place? How would I feel if my best friend were arrested for murder on circumstantial evidence? As a question develops into an answer, I give a great deal of thought to my main character. She is the most important part of the story, and I see it take shape through her eyes. Before I write a word of the story I know how I'll begin it and how I'll end it, making sure to put in honest clues and distracting red herrings--just to make the mystery all the more fun to solve. I love mysteries, and I want my readers to love them, too." In creating the acclaimed Orphan Train Adventures, Nixon explored a time and place in America's recent past that is not widely covered in history lessons. She explains, "It was a part of history I hadn't known: that beginning in 1854, over 100,000 homeless children were rescued from the streets of New York City and sent by train to new homes in the West. As I researched early journals, I found many letters--some hopeful, some sad--and reports which told of tears as brothers and sisters were separated or a child was not chosen. I wanted to bring history and fiction together in an exciting, adventurous time and place, to tell the stories of those who could have traveled west on the Orphan Train." Many of Nixon's readers have written to her asking how to get published. Her novel The Making of a Writer, a part memoir, part how-to book, is her answer to them. From her first publication at age 10--a poem titled "Springtime"--to her graduation from Hollywood High during World War II, Nixon shares the incidents from her childhood that helped her to develop as a writer.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Yearling

Filesize

383.17 KB

Number of Pages

112

eBook ISBN

9780307536976

Excerpt from: Laugh till You Cry by Joan Lowery Nixon

CHAPTER ONE Dodging low tree branches, leaping over dips and cracks in the sidewalk, Cody Carter ran harder and faster down Chimney Rock than he had ever run in his entire life. Someone was chasing him and quickly closing the short gap that lay between them. The person yelled something, but fear and his own loud gasping for breath blocked Cody's ears, and he couldn't make out what was said. The only words that bounced through his brain were his: I'm only thirteen years old. I'm too young to die. Ahead of him lay San Felipe, with cars backed up, waiting for the stoplight to change. In the nearest lane was a blue and white cop car, and Cody aimed for it, knocking on the passenger-side window. As he stared into the wide, surprised eyes of the uniformed policeman behind the wheel, Cody managed to croak, "Help!" The officer flipped on his hazard lights and jumped from the car. Cody was bent over the fender, wiping rivulets of sweat from his eyes and gulping air. "What's the matter, kid?" the officer called as he walked around the front of his sedan. He placed a firm hand on Cody's arm. "Are you okay?" Cody twisted to look over his shoulder. His cousin Hayden Norton had drifted back and was standing behind some of the solid, broad-limbed oak trees that lined the street. Hayden's buddy Bradley Lee was with him. They were both at least five inches taller than Cody, even though they were all the same age and in the same grade at school. Hayden and Brad watched Cody warily, practically sniffing the air like a couple of dogs as they waited to see what would happen next. But Hayden's other sidekick, Eddie Todd, shorter and even sneakier, was quietly edging his way back along the street. It was just like Eddie to leave the others, Cody thought. If there was going to be trouble, Eddie wouldn't be in it, even though he probably started it. "Those guys want to kill me," Cody told the officer. He straightened, able now to breathe more easily. The officer smiled. "Take a poke at you, maybe, but are you really sure they want to kill you?" The humor in his voice made Cody flinch. "They do," he insisted. "They said they were going to drag me back to school and stick my head in a toilet. Drowning somebody is killing them, isn't it?" For the first time Cody craned his neck upward to take a good look at the policeman beside him. The man had to be at least six feet three, with broad shoulders. His dark eyes were crinkled at the outer corners, as if he were trying hard not to smile. "What did you do to make them so mad at you?" The officer turned briefly, and Cody could see him sizing up Hayden and Brad. Eddie was long gone. "I moved here," Cody answered. He pointed at Hayden, who was still peeking out from behind the trees. "That tall kid with the yellow hair and the big gut is my cousin Hayden. He just plain doesn't want me to be here." "Where's here, besides Houston?" "My grandmother's house. Hayden lives right next door. Mom and I came here to live with my grandmother because she's really sick." "What's your grandmother's name?" "Dorothy Norton." "And where does she live?" "On Longmont. I don't think it's too far from here." The officer glanced back at Hayden and Brad. Then he opened the passenger-side door of his sedan. "Hop in," he said. "I'll give you a lift home." Gratefully, Cody picked up his backpack and scrambled into the car, closing the door tightly behind him. He sneaked a quick look at Hayden, but the two boys had turned around and were strolling in the opposite direction. As the officer started his patrol car, he said, "My name's Jake Ramsey. What's yours?" "Cody Carter.