Kindle books

Pop’s Picks for 2015

ByMichael Thal January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

In 2015 Pop’s Blog erupted on the Net reviewing over 30 YA novels and short stories. We decided to focus our attention on books published by independent publishers and authors because too many review sites tend to ignore these amazing books. Yes, we’ve read and reviewed popular books like Paper Towns by John Green, but…

The Ornament

ByMichael Thal December 17, 2015

Annie Rustle raised her grandson, Jimmy Rustle after he lost his parents in a car accident. He and his best friend and neighbor, Lisa Parker spend a lot of time together. One Christmas Annie has an idea. Why not create a Christmas time-capsule ornament out of paper mache and insert a list of things the…

Kindle books | science fiction | YA Books

The Ark: A New Beginning

ByMichael Thal December 17, 2015

Coined by Gibor Basri, a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, a planemo is a rogue planet between the stars. Author Colin Edwards developed this concept as the premise for his novel, The Ark: A New Beginning. What would happen if a planemo named Ronin headed for Earth and collided with our…

BeSwitched Witch

ByMichael Thal December 11, 2015December 11, 2015

The beauty about the BeSwitched Series is how seamlessly the books are connected yet each is very independent of the other. Readers can easily read book two without worrying about missing something from book 1. However, the books are so good, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by missing any of them. In BeSwitched, Surla,…

Riches to Rags

ByMichael Thal December 5, 2015

Seventh grader Dylan Jones knew all about the good life. His family had lots of money so Dylan got what he wanted. Even so, everyone liked the boy because he was a carefree and happy child. Miss Wickware, Dylan’s history teacher saw potential in the youth, too. He just needed a bit of education from…

Do we really need the death penalty?

ByMichael Thal December 2, 2015

After 1861, if a British subject committed piracy, arson, or murder, that individual could have been sentenced to death in the United Kingdom. Public opinion gradually turned against capital punishment when Timothy Evans was hanged in 1950 for killing his wife and baby. It was later uncovered that Reginald Christie was the murderer. By 1965…

BeSwitched

ByMichael Thal November 23, 2015November 23, 2015

Molly Snow has authored a funtastic series—BeSwitched. In book one, Surla, a witch’s black cat, has escaped the tyranny of the wicked Idis for the serenity of Cathy’s comfortable home. Only one problem: Surla has invoked the Black Cat’s Curse. She crossed a human’s path and switched into the body of a local high school…

Frozen Heart Summer Thaw

ByMichael Thal November 7, 2015November 7, 2015

Blaire Thompson is a junior at Dysart High School in Phoenix, Arizona. She has dreams of becoming an Olympic skater. Her dad is a Chief Master Sergeant (CMS) in the Air Force, so like most military brats she’s moved around a lot—Spain, Germany, South Carolina, and now Phoenix. Unfortunately, the summer prior to senior year CMS Thompson…

Grab your Louisville Slugger

ByMichael Thal October 6, 2015

We’ve all been home alone at night and perhaps frightened when the wind blows and windows rattle. I remember descending into the dark abyss of my childhood home with twin brother Elliott behind me, wielding his trusty Louisville Slugger to fight off boogiemen. Lisa, a college student, decides to surprise her parents and getaway from…

Why read a YA novel?

ByMichael Thal September 28, 2015September 28, 2015

Time columnist, Joel Stein had this to say in a New York Times opinion piece about adults reading YA books: “The only thing more embarrassing than catching a guy on the plane looking at pornography on his computer is seeing a guy on the plane reading The Hunger Games. Or a Twilight book. Or Harry…