A little info on Michael Thal

The Legend of Koolura was Michael’s debut novel. This was shortly followed by Goodbye Tchaikovsky, which was given a second printing in March, 2020 by Royal Fireworks Press. In 2014 Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback was published. Book three of the series, Koolura and the Mayans, was published in 2016 and won Second Place in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards and First Place in the 2018 eLit Awards.

Michael has recently completed his sixth novel, a book about his beloved Jila with the working title, “The Lip Reader”. The novel was accepted by Paper Angel Press for publication in November 2021. In May, 2022 The Lip Reader won first place in the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (Category:Fiction Inspirational).


After graduate school, Michael Thal moved to Southern California from the frigid Northeast. He taught elementary and middle school for 28 years until a freak virus left him deafened. At the age of 50, he reinvented himself as a writer composing over 80 published articles in print magazines as well as novels for middle grade and high school aged students.