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Orange County Children’s Book Festival

ByMichael Thal

Remember the good old days when you could walk into Crown Books, Borders, or Barnes & Noble and browse the tombs for your favorite author or curl up in a corner to check out a fun read? With most bookstores closed, where can a mom purchase books for children and teens besides logging onto Amazon?…

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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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Koolura Series character Leila Marvi speaks out

ByMichael Thal

Leila Marvi is deaf. She’s also the main character in Koolura and the Mayans, and a secondary character in Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback.  She has a few things to say about herself, BFF Koolura Akopyan, and the two novels she appears in.   Can you tell us a little about yourself? My name is Leila Marvi….

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Alien Invasion

ByMichael Thal

Tyler Dunsmore, a thirteen-year old boy from Providence, Rhode Island is best friends with Dirk, a powerful wizard from a distant star. Tyler first met Dirk in Brian Wu and Scott Spotson’s first My Wizard Buddy novel. In Target: Earth, number three in the My Wizard Buddy Series, Tyler is kidnapped by the Genzi, evil…

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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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Read a YA Book Series this Summer

ByMichael Thal

  With kids about to exit schools by the droves, it’s a good idea to keep them reading during the summer months. If children take a vacation from reading over the long hot summer their reading skills could fizzle. Studies have shown that students can lose up to three months of reading progress over the…

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YA Historical Fiction

ByMichael Thal

Jake Tharsher is just 13 years old when his mother is killed in 1883 by a mysterious beast with red hair and plate-sized tracks. His father, an Army Scout, refuses to hunt the animal down. So when dad is called away again to fight renegade Apaches, Jake decides to risk it all and hunt the…

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Tale of a psychic teen

ByMichael Thal

Shifting Sight, a YA novel about a teenager with a psychic gift, is extraordinary on many levels. First, it opens readers’ eyes to understanding prejudice at its roots. Ben Cleary, the youth telling the story in the first person narrative present tense, discloses how his best friend, Mike Brown, hates Melissa Alterwood and her mother…

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Fantastic Boy Novel

ByMichael Thal

Tyler Moore spent most of his early childhood in and out of hospitals. He had cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening hereditary disease causing thick mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive tract. But Tyler wouldn’t let his disability stop him, so when he entered Harpers Ferry Junior High School he decided he would be…