{"id":8,"date":"2012-01-22T14:48:08","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaellaser.com\/michaellaser\/wp\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2025-12-30T00:44:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T05:44:34","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Which book would appeal to you?
<\/i>Read short summaries here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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An authoritarian president is starting his third term, and teenagers in a New Jersey shore town skirt the new laws recklessly\u2014but their freedom is in jeopardy. Comedy, tragedy, and political satire blend in Futura. <\/p>\n

\u201c…engaging and memorable. A deeply felt novel whose characters will feel familiar and fresh all at once.\u201d \u2014 Kirkus Reviews
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Nearly 2,000 words\u2014including the ones you meant to look up but didn\u2019t\u2026 things you didn\u2019t know the names for\u2026 interesting concepts and unusual practices\u2026 and much more.
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You think you know your father\u2014but what if he kept secrets until the day he died?
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Angus Truax loathes his life so much that he decides to end it. More Fool than Hamlet, this unlikely hero jokes his way to the grave. Before he can make his exit, though, an unlucky soul comes knocking at his door, pleading for help. Angus discovers, to his astonishment, that his story isn\u2019t over yet.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026a seesaw of tender moments, total screw-ups, and a suspense that becomes unbearable\u2026 Laser\u2026 mounts a steamroller of a novel.\u201d\u2014Kirkus Reviews
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On the morning of the SAT, Will Westfield disappears. His parents search for him frantically\u2014but the only way to understand Will\u2019s disappearance is to retrace the events that led to this disastrous moment.
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A white man and a black woman discover the depth of their differences and an unexpected bond in this urban drama.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026brutally honest about the difficulty of bridging the racial gap and the assumptions that even well-meaning blacks and whites make about one another.\u201d\u2014 Library Journal
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An adulterous affair turns a long friendship into a whirl of unexpected confessions, resentments, and broken hearts.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026this deceptively simple first novel\u2026 with sharp observations and crisp dialogue\u2026 rings true about the strains of friendship.\u201d\u2014 Publishers Weekly
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For Younger Readers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Jenny Fox goes to South America to build a school in her grandfather\u2019s country\u2014but her summer adventure turns into much more than community service when she falls in love with the charismatic leader of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael Laser tackles some big issues\u2014war, peace, love, infatuation, and cultural awareness, among others. An extremely compelling read; highly recommended.\u201d\u2014Janice Eidus, author of The War of the Rosens and The Last Jewish Virgin
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Would you cheat to get better grades? Would you cheat if a beautiful member of the opposite sex asked you to? Temptation comes in many forms, and Karl Petrofsky, gawky genius, finds it harder and harder to resist.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaser\u2019s breezy prose and humorous dialogue balance his serious message about the perils of cheating and will hold the attention of reluctant readers.\u201d\u2014 Booklist
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When his sixth grade class gets caught up in a feud with another class, Marc Chaikin\u2019s life gets turned upside down. At the same time, he competes with a more popular boy for Lily Wu, the object of his all-consuming crush, and has to deal with the end of his parents\u2019 marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026a series of poetically crystallized moments as a boy on the brink of manhood becomes initiated into the larger world outside classroom 6-321.\u201d\u2014 Publishers Weekly
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As the rain falls on the city, the town and the forest, it inspires delight, creativity and memories in the children and adults who experience it: a gentle, poetic evocation of the rain\u2019s beauty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a style almost as peaceful and steadily rhythmic as the autumn shower he lauds, Laser conveys an infectious exultation in a sudden rainfall.\u201d\u2014 Publishers Weekly
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We asked teachers around the country to assign the title topic to their students, and received bagloads of charming, hilarious, poignant and wise advice.
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For College Instructors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Anyone who has taught freshman composition knows how hard it is to improve the writing of students who arrive at college with weak sentence skills. The College Writing Clinic offers effective strategies that will help you achieve this important but elusive goal.<\/p>\n

“Many students attending college today are not especially strong writers. They often experience difficulty crafting sentences that adequately capture their intentions in an effective and correct manner. If this description fits one or more of your students, The College Writing Clinic is the book for you. It provides useful ideas and effective practices for mastering the basic craft of sentence writing.” \u2014Steve Graham, Arizona State University – Co-author, Handbook of Writing Research and Best Practices in Writing Instruction
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Which book would appeal to you?Read short summaries here For Younger Readers For College Instructors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page_landing.php","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":true,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":true,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-8","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry","6":"has-post-thumbnail"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":68,"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1089,"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/1089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaellaser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}