Readers of revised fairytale stories are wary of Once Upon a Cursed Time: Dark Fairytale Anthology edited by Rebecca Weeks and Aimee Shaye. To quote the editors, “[It’s] a collection of fourteen dark fairytale stories written by eleven twisted authors.” It is also a retelling of childhood favorites from a very dark perspective. First, I…
Echo is a beautifully orchestrated novel by award winning author Pam Munoz Ryan involving the lives of four different children. The book begins with Otto’s story, a young boy lost in a forbidden forest. There, three mysterious sisters—Eins, Zwei, and Drei—who give him a melodious harmonica, rescue him. It is this harmonica that becomes the…
Earlier this month the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards announced its winners in its Middle Grade Fiction category. Taking First Place was Star Sapphire and the Land of Gems: The Crystal Cavern (Book3) by Anthony Pardoe. The Second Place winner was Koolura and the Mayans (Koolura Series Book 3) by Michael Thal. The Royal Dragonfly Book…
After losing everything, all seventeen-year-old Thea wanted was to be a normal teenager. Instead, she was attacked by a mysterious creature she thought only existed in fairy tales. Now thrown into the unknown realm of Faey, Thea is forced to determine the difference between reality and fantasy, in a world ruled by a dark elite…
Tak Spinner, the 15-year-old son of Taktinius Spinner, the Royal Sailweaver, is a mischievous boy who enjoys sailing his airship, the Arrow, in and around the Kingdom of Spire testing the security of the Royal Fleet, to their continuous annoyance. One day, Tak follows the Vigilance, commanded by Captain Adam Strake. Since Etherium, Tak’s home…
The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCWBI) is holding its annual six-week Book Blast promotion that started October 10 and will continue until November 18, 2016. Book Blast highlights traditionally and independently published books on individual author pages. Picture books for young children, chapter books for older readers, middle grade novels and young…
The Resistance Duchess, a YA fantasy, is the second book in The Resistance series where Garritt’s twin Baylee takes center stage. Baylee has a hard time being a leprechaun, but when she is captured, she must figure out if she wants to be a normal teenager, an elf for her people or a ruler of…
In seventeen year old Dakota Kekoa’s line of work, a job can go bad in a split second. And when a job goes bad, people die. Suspended from working as a tax collector in her draconic family’s protection racket, Dakota is assigned a secret mission from her grandfather. A foreign queen has offered a grave…
Book Trailer About the Book Title: The Sailweaver’s Son Author: Jeff Minerd Genre: MG/YA Fantasy The Sailweaver’s Son combines traditional fantasy with a dash of steampunk and takes young readers to a unique world—Etherium. A world where mountains rise like islands above a sea of clouds and adventurers travel the sky in sail-driven airships. When…
School in Los Angeles begins August 16, 2016. It’s been a long hot summer, so slow the pace a bit, kick back, and read a book. It’s so important that the reading skills of children remain sharp. According to an article in Reading Rocks, “Summer Reading Loss,” thirteen academic studies covering 40,000 students discovered that…