Nama Beach High

Real life stories about real life issues teens are facing today. Book one in a new StudentWare fiction series for mid-teens that deals with the challenges, problems, and excitement of becoming young women of faith When Laura Duffy's family moves to Satellite Beach, Florida, she feels out of place as a junior at the high school where her good grades mark her as a nerd. Mrs. Isaacsen, a school counselor, invites Laura to join a weekly group for "conflicted" girls. There she gets to know Michelle (a sophisticated sophomore), Joy Beth (a super athlete), KJ (a freshman with an attitude), and Celeste (a junior who's friends with every hunk in the school). The girls form a bond, and as various things happen in their busy lives, they learn to use Mrs. Isaacsen's "secret keys" as a means for coping. This is the first of four books in Youth Specialties' 'Nama Beach High series by veteran girls' fiction author Nancy Rue.

The girlfriends from 'Nama Beach High learn the liberating secret of discipline In this second book of the 'Nama Beach High series, Laura Duffy and her friends from the "conflicted" girls club discover a "secret" text hidden within John 16. Laura has a chance to experience the truth of this secret when she gets her driver's license, starts a new job at the local Gap store, then observes kids from her school in the act of shoplifting, and even suffers the theft of her car. Worst of all, her friend Joy Beth, who seems to possess everything in life, develops diabetes. Together the girls realize that possessing things sometimes leads to being possessed by them. They learn that discipline is the ability to deny and to choose not to exploit. Discipline is a way that God's power can bless them. They find out that surrendering all of life's non-essentials and identifying what remains as God's sacred gifts is The Key.

Things are finally getting better for Laura Duffy. Kind of. Despite nursing a broken jaw, Laura is finding a good balance between God, friends, school, and family. But something is happening at Panama Beach High School that is going to rattle every part of Laura's life. A group of new students has arrived whose olive skin and awkward accents draw unwelcome attention from the school's angriest group of burnouts. No one is sure where the new kids came from, why they don't seek friends, or why a bully named Wolf is making their lives so difficult. As tensions rise, Laura finds herself wanting to help, but is frustrated by God's seeming silence. And just when it looks like the tides have turned, things get much, much worse. Join Laura as she struggles to figure out how to be friends with outsiders, extend grace to enemies, and make sense of events that can do far more damage than a broken jaw.

Laura Duffy has been through some tough stuff-moving to a new state, starting her junior year in a new school, fights, kidnapping attempts, accusations, even explosions; but she's always had her friends to fall back on-at least until now. When old enemies start new trouble, Laura finds herself feeling very alone with a God who seems to be asking her to choose between faithfulness and friendship. And if that weren't hard enough, Laura is confronted with the possibility that her new friends aren't really friends at all. Join Laura as she tries to find the truth behind unfounded lies, restore old relationships, and figure out who's on her side.