Koolura and the Mayans Wins Gold at the eLit Book Awards

On April 16, 2018 the 9^thAnnual eLit Book Awards announced its winners for 2018. There were 65 award categories including Historical Fiction, True Crime, and Autobiography/Memoir. Each category awarded three prizes—Gold, Silver, and Bronze. In the Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction category, Koolura and the Mayans won the Gold Prize!

The eLit Book Awards is a global awards program committed to celebrating and honoring the very best of English language digital publishing entertainment. The eLit Book Awards is an industry-wide, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the electronic publishing industry. Jenkins Group Inc., a Michigan-based book publishing and marketing service company, presents the contest. Jenkins Group Inc. has operated this popular Independent Publisher Book Awards since 1996. Thousands of e-books are entered into the contest annually.

In the highly prized Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction category hundreds of books for the YA market are submitted each year to the eLit Book Awards. This year the Bronze medal went to Mona Lisa’s Ghostby Nancy Kunhardt Lodge while the Silver medal went to Having Her Back by Ann Gallagher. The prestigious Gold award went to Koolura and the Mayans, the third book in Michael Thal’s Koolura Series.

Koolura is no ordinary girl. Neither is her best friend Leila, who happens to be deaf. While visiting Mexico, the girls discover a device, which hurtles them back in time to an early Mayan civilization. The Mayans have troubles of their own—the alien Aquari people have all but enslaved them. They need a goddess to set them free. Could Koolura or maybe Leila be the one? 

The reviews on Amazon.com have been amazing. Twenty-one customers reviewed this 131-page novel available in print and digital formats. Every single one of them awarded the book 5 stars. Here’s what Arya Fomonyuy had to say for Readers’ Favorite:

“Koolura and the Mayans by Michael Thal is the third book in the Koolura series, an exciting story that will take readers on a historic ride back into the old Maya civilization. Koolura and her friend, Leila, are just two young teens visiting Mexico. They stumble on a device that allows them to travel back in time. They are thrust into an early Maya civilization, whose people are enslaved by the Aquari. The people hope for a goddess who could set them free. Could Koolura be this goddess?

“Although Koolura and the Mayans is written for a pre-teen audience, it was fun to read as an adult. Michael Thal’s characters are awesome and I enjoyed Koolura and Leila, two girls who are smart and very ingenious. They make a great team. Readers will enjoy watching them evolve through the story. The author seems to create a whole new culture around the Maya and the story feels so real, reading about the people and the challenges they face. At the level of style, this book is beautifully accomplished. First off, the reader will notice the gorgeous accessible writing, composed of short and easy-to-understand sentences. The writing also features great descriptions of characters and setting. The descriptive prose creates powerful images in the minds of readers. I enjoyed the well-crafted dialogues, which make the characters come to life. Readers will love the adventure, the drama, the conflict, and the entertaining nature of this story. I enjoyed it!”

Here’s what award winning author and psychologist Dr. Robert Rich had to say about Koolura and the Mayans:

“Koolura is a twelve-year old girl with marvelous powers. Indeed, she keeps discovering new ones. In this third book of the Koolura series, she finds out where they come from, not that I am going to tell you. All I’ll say is that it’s technology, not magic: technology from a very advanced civilization of a faraway world.

“The device that gave Koolura her powers pulls her back 1000 years into the past, where she and her almost-deaf friend Leila have adventures, face dangers, and need to solve fatally important problems under time pressure.

“Who wouldn’t enjoy a story like that? 

“While this volume can be read in its own right, it will be far easier to get into its reality by first reading the other books in the Koolura series. We don’t want a young reader to think, “Oh, this is made up stuff, can’t be real!” In the first book, The Legend of Koolura, Koolura discovers she can do things others can’t. In book two, Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddleback, we see these marvels already established.

But, even starting by reading Koolura and the Mayans, a young reader will find the journey to be Kool.”

The Koolura Series was Michael Thal’s brainchild 24 years ago when his then 11 year-old daughter, Channie, refused to read. So her daddy asked, “If I wrote a book about a very cool girl, will you read it?” Channie agreed and when The Legend of Koolura was published in 2012 the now adult daughter with two children of her own read and loved the novel written specially for her. A second novel, Koolura and the Mystery at Camp Saddlebacksoon followed and was published in 2013. Koolura and the Mayans, published in 2016, also won the 2016 Dragonfly Book Awards Second Place.

The three Koolura Series books are available in print or digital. Looking for a fun escape? The Koolura Series is your answer.