Book Reviews

Read a YA Book Series this Summer

ByMichael Thal June 21, 2019

You’ve seen them on library and book store shelves—a book series. They are actually a book sequence having certain elements in common including characters, setting, and timeline. Some works in a series can be read in any order, like the Koolura Series. In a “Stand Alone” series each book makes few references to previous books…

The Spaceship Graveyard

ByMichael Thal June 10, 2019June 10, 2019

The Boneyards of Nebula (Sons of Neptune Book 4) is the last installment of Rod Little’s captivating Sons of Neptune series. Tucked away safely on Starbase 21, the men and women of Earth receive a distress signal from a dark anomaly in space; a starship graveyard known as the Boneyards of Nebula. Not one to…

Thought Provoking Short Stories

ByMichael Thal May 28, 2019May 28, 2019

Anne Loader McGee, author of Anni’s Attic and the Cedar Creek Mystery Series, has accumulated six short stories in an eighteen-page e-book. They are strange tales that will remind readers of myths or legends from their youth. “Love Song of the Waterfall” is a good example. It’s a sad story about a Maori Maiden who dies…

Revenge of the Spiders: An Excellent Sequel

ByMichael Thal May 3, 2019

Revenge of the Spiders is book 2 in Rod Little’s four book series, Sons of Neptune. In book one, Earthweeds, the novel’s two protagonist brothers, Shane and Sam, return from a mountain hunting trip to find their home has been invaded by large man-eating lizards created by the Sayans, an alien race of humanoids. The young…

Apocalypse Now

ByMichael Thal April 9, 2019April 9, 2019

In the science fiction fantasy, Earthweeds,Shane and Sam are brothers. Shane is in college and Sam is about to finish high school. Each summer the boys escape for a few weeks into the wilderness outside of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania to hunt and evade the hustle and bustle of the real world. This year, when the boys…

A Spooky Story for Middle School Students

ByMichael Thal March 27, 2019March 27, 2019

Dear Pop, I’m a seventh grader at New Heights Preparatory School in Northridge. My English teacher recently assigned us a book report. I can choose any book I want, but the author must be a California resident. I also need to report a little bit about the writer. Please help me ASAP. The…

Caught Between Two Worlds

ByMichael Thal March 23, 2019

Savannah is a communications major at a prominent university. One day, while walking across campus, she eyes a guy she can’t resist. He is absolutely gorgeous. The communications major is taking American Sign Language (ASL) with Prof. Stockton to fulfill her language requirement. One homework assignment is to attend a Deaf event….

Pop’s 6 Favorite Books of 2018

ByMichael Thal February 6, 2019

In 2018 Pop read and reviewed 36 young adult novels. All of the books received 5 pops because they were thought provoking, imaginative, and the author’s writing style exemplary. Below you’ll find seven of his favorites plus his award-winning novel, Koolura and the Mayans. Title: Koolura and the Mayans Author: Michael Thal Awards: 2018 eLit…

YA Fantasy into a Medieval World

ByMichael Thal January 29, 2019

Elai Nelson and the Prophecy of the Child is book one of the Fire on the Clouds Trilogy. The novel begins when Elai’s home is broken into by two goons who kill his adoptive parents and attempt to kidnap him. But with the help of his talking toothbrush (you read that right) the sixteen-year old manages…

Growing up Deaf

ByMichael Thal January 28, 2019

Audiologists acknowledge four levels of deafness—mild, moderate, severe, and profound. Author Cece Bell is severely to profoundly deaf. At the age of four she contracted meningitis, robbing her of most of her hearing. When she started public school, Cece was mainstreamed into a regular classroom. She knew she was different from the other kids due…