About the Book Title: The Heart of Aleppo Author: Ammar Habib Genre: Young Adult / Coming of Age / Contemporary Page Count: 235 After standing for over 7,000 years, Aleppo’s ruin came overnight. Separated from his family during the night the rebels attacked the city, thirteen-year-old Zaid Kadir is lost in the middle of a…
Revenge, Lust & Voodoo by Dina Rae tells the story of Lucien Nazaire, an old Voodoo priest from Haiti. He lives in a retirement community in Wisconsin and meets sixteen-year old Jake La Rue, who he recruits to become his apprentice to carry out his life’s work. Jake is an orphan living with his abusive Uncle…
Many parents set up computer schedules for their kids and trust them to use their time responsibly. It is important, however, to spot-check their history use. One parent told me, “I prepared computer schedules and spot-checked the sites my kids visited, but one day my nine-year-old visited a kid site I thought was okay until…
Sixteen year old Kate has the CHRONOS gene enabling her to use the CHRONOS medallion grandma Katherine gave her to transport through time and space to just about whenever and wherever she chooses. However, Kate’s trips through time have a distinct purpose: stop grandfather Saul from annihilating most of the human race to create a…
Pop’s Blog and his web page—Michael Thal Young Adult Books—were developed to promote his five YA novels. Pop had a vision, and with the help of his web designer, Savio Kalathilparamb, they created a six page website with blog. Keep the following concepts in mind when you create your own: Purpose A website for personal…
Author: Jessica Redmerski Genre: YA/NA Crossover; Dystopian Thais Fenwick was eleven-years-old when civilization fell, devastated by a virus that killed off the majority of the world’s population. For seven years, Thais and her family lived in a community of survivors deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. But when her town is attacked by…
Are your children moping around the house with nothing to do? Here’s a suggestion to stimulate their minds: Have them enter a writing contest. Children master concepts at their grade level, and unfortunately, those skills tend to fade during the long summer months. To sharpen a child’s writing skills, motivate your sons and daughters…
Josh, a 17-year-old alcoholic, drives home after an evening of binge drinking. Two high school girls standing at a crosswalk are unseen until it’s too late. Josh is thrown through the windshield and dies immediately and Grace becomes a statistic. Josh finds himself in Death Valley talking to Lucifer, who offers him a deal he…
Silvia Kryz, an eighty-four year old Australian woman, witnesses the mass slaughter of a crossing guard and “six lovely little children, none over seven.” Steps away from being killed by the murderous vehicle, she survives, a huge plus for the killer. Charles Debnall, angry at life and everyone living, is responsible for the carnage. Raised…
As a reading specialist working for the Glendale Unified School District, I noticed a serious decline in reading skills of many of my students after a long hot summer break. According to researchers at the National Education Association (NEA), “Children can lose up to three months of reading progress over the summer months, and that loss…