Summer 2016 is right around the corner. What better way to enjoy a day at the beach than to bring a good book to soak up the sun? Here are 12 YA books on the SCBWI “Summer Reading List” by California writers. With each book you’ll find its category, author, brief description, and link to…
Jeanne Bannon is the author of The Beautiful Monster Series. She says, “I’ve always loved to read about vampires, especially the Vampire Lestat books by Anne Rice. Another of my favorites is Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. My aim for Beautiful Monster was to remain true to the folklore and genre. I didn’t want to…
Sam Vives, a Barcelona teen, is just a normal boy dealing with usual problems–homework, friends, and school bullies like Rafa who has targeted Sam since he was 7. When Sam and Rafa are paired during fencing class Sam wins easily, but gets smacked illegally by Rafa’s heavy sword. Later that day, limping home, Sam’s thoughts turn…
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…
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…
The Boy Who Spoke to Stars, by Reuben Miles is a YA urban fantasy and book 1 of the Astral Strings Series. Here’s what it’s about: Nothing has been right in Kasper’s life for quite some time. Then the eclipse comes, and his father is stolen away. When the police arrive, instead of trying to…
Abandoned by his family, Killian is given one chance to find answers to his past in a strange new realm. The mysterious community protecting the realm promises to reveal what he seeks if he…
Blurb Witch of the Cards is historical, supernatural romantic suspense set in 1932 on the Jersey shore. Twenty-two year-old Fiera has recently left the Brooklyn orphanage where she was raised, and works in Manhattan as a nanny. She gets a lucky break when her boss pays for her short vacation in Asbury Park. One evening,…
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…
Seventeen-year-old Emma Garson is Lucas Walker’s devoted girlfriend. She expects their relationship to blossom into a life-long commitment with a picket fence and plenty of kids. Then, months before Lucas’ high school graduation, he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. When the boy finally becomes a shell of his former self—high school football star and most…