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Book Blast: 2016 Books by SCBWI Authors

ByMichael Thal

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…

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A Time Travel Tale about the Salem Witch Trials

ByMichael Thal

Netti hung from the hanging tree, her body limp and swinging. It’s 1692 Salem, Massachusets with the infamous witch trials under way. Netti was a sweet and innocent young woman who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Her crime: She knew how to turn herbs into oils. Neighbor Jonas Hale believed the girl was actually brewing potions…

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SCWBI Summer Reading List could boost kids’ reading ability

ByMichael Thal

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…

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Paranormal Jigsaw Puzzle

ByMichael Thal

Andrea, a high school student, and her middle school brother, Bobby, were pried from comfy Florida living and tearfully moved to Stevensville, Idaho, a small town country community. Mom Shelly Taylor was a successful associate at a Tampa advertising agency, so she didn’t like the move either. Dad Steve Taylor had a job offer in…

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A Thousand Years of Evil

ByMichael Thal

Jimmy Hankins and Mickey O’Hara, boys in their early teens, are abducted from the streets with many other children in their city, by a band of evil men planning on selling the children as sex slaves through the seedy channels of human trafficking. Then, like magic, Theresa Bordils and Melchior, Fairy King of Avalon, rescues…

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Trial By Fire: Release Day Blitz-April 4, 2016

ByMichael Thal

In Chris Cannon’s newest novel, Trial by Fire, Bryn’s hopes for a peaceful new semester at school go up in smoke when someone tries to kill her—again. She’s not sure which is scarier, facing the radicals who want to sacrifice her for their cause, or her impending nightmare of a Directorate-arranged marriage to her nemesis, Jaxon….

Pop’s Picks for 2015
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Pop’s Picks for 2015

ByMichael Thal

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…

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BeSwitched Witch

ByMichael Thal

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,…