Laura Grey and Friends

Laura Grey and Friends
256 Pages
ISBN 978-1519740137

Laura continues to grow and learn. There is her eighth grade teacher who flies paper airplanes around the room and smacks students on the head with a ruler if they don't pay attention in class. There is the old man with the gun and the dog. There is Carl, the new boy in school, and Sheldon, the boy who claims she is his girlfriend. There is some surprising information about boys and the long, rainy afternoon when Laura makes a decision about her hair the she soon regrets. Finally, there is the anticipation of Christmas and the tragedy of a family illness. Most of all, there are changes in Laura's life. Too many, she will tell you.

Joan Schmeichel

About Joan Schmeichel (Traverse City, Michigan Author)

Joan Schmeichel

Joan (that's me) is the author of eight books, ages ranging from middle school to young adult. (Mature adults can read them too.) I began writing years ago but I set it aside to work at the University of Michigan. I started as a temporary employee on a reading research project where I wrote fiction and non-fiction for workbooks for grade levels 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. Later on I worked as a development officer in Annual Giving. Before the University, I did some freelance work writing copy for brochures, ads, etc. My degree was in sociology with an internship in psychiatric social work, neither of which I put to use.

Upon retirement I went back to writing. I confess I kept a letter from years ago because of this quotation: "Your writing style has an unstated simplicity which I find absolutely haunting." That was from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in response to a sparsely written manuscript I sent them. (Now you couldn't do that without an agent.) Unfortunately, what Knopf liked was never finished until recently. Now it's The Times of Laura Grey. As for my writing, I am committed to continuing the style of "unstated simplicity."

My husband Neill and I are both retired and living in Kewadin, Michigan. We have sixteen grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. I spend a lot of time, in addition to writing, playing golf and working on Kakura puzzles.