A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil's dad, who seems a fortune to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Mariclea, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead.

Thirteen very different voices--old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.

00-01 Utah Book Award (Gr. 7-12)

A vacant lot, rat-infested and filled with garbage, looked like no place for a garden. Especially to a neighborhood of strangers where no one seems to care. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise: To Curtis, who believes he can win back Lateesha's heart with a harvest of tomatoes; to Virgil's dad, who seems a fortune to be made from growing lettuce; and even to Mariclea, sixteen and pregnant, wishing she were dead.

Thirteen very different voices--old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.

00-01 Utah Book Award (Gr. 7-12)

Erik Petersen pa niogtyve, meldes savnet af sine foraeldre. Larsen, Gunnar og resten af holdet saettes pa sagen. Umiddelbart ligner det at Erik Petersen simpelthen er gaet sin vej. Men de naermeste insisterer pa, at han ikke kan vaere forsvundet af egen fri vilje. Larsen er ikke overbevist, men da endnu en mand forsvinder under lignende forhold, tager sagen en ny drejning. Samtidig med at sagen skrider frem, bliver Gunnar mere og mere passiv, i forsoget pa at finde de forsvundne maend, og han og Larsens venskab saettes pa en alvorlig pro

Den lille pige Lea forsvinder, og hendes stedfar, shippingkongen Niels Vestemark, tager sit eget liv. Ti ar tidligere blev samme mands biologiske datter Zarah fundet mishandlet og myrdet. Dengang mistaenkte man den kun 15 ar gamle Sylvester for mordet pa sosteren, men der blev aldrig faeldet dom i sagen. Makkerparret Gunnar og Larsen, der har kendt hinanden siden politiskolen, efterforskede sagen om Zarah og nu skal de efterforske Leas forsvinden. Sagen er mere kompliceret end ved forste ojekast, og gamle sar fra sagen ti ar tidligere springer op, et efter et, og det viser sig at de to sager kun er en lille del af et stort puslespil. En horribel sag hvor et spor af menneskehandel, incest, paedofili, mord og narko breder sig fra Slovenien og Polen, til Danmark og videre gennem Euro