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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
"Freester's First Easter" is an adorable picture book that captures the magic and excitement of Easter through the eyes of a little rabbit named Freester. Aimed at children aged 3-8, this book is filled with colorful illustrations and enticing rhymes that will capture their imaginations and keep them engaged from start to finish.
Kris Benny is the author of
Freester's First Easter. As a
mother, she understands that the
best way to teach is to package
learning into something joyful and
playful like a story, poem, painting,
or a song. The medium that comes
naturally to her is storytelling! She
loves reading and writing. She was
born in a tropical city in the
southern part of India and grew up
hearing stories from her father and
melodious songs from her mother.
She loves both her sisters dearly.
She currently lives in Henderson,
Nevada with her beloved husband
and two wonderful boys.
THIRD PRIZE Picture Book category
Marcus - King of the Dandelions
by L. Malungu
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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
This story, as with the other books in the Marcus series, invites young readers to explore their natural world and experience its wonders through the eyes of its loveable protagonist. The syllabic highlighting of text provides young readers greater ease in applying phonetic understanding to decode new vocabulary. The rich vocabulary is intentional, and awakens the mind to an exciting linguistic adventure that will be experienced by the young reader as a challenge overcome. It is the author's heartfelt desire that this story be an initial spark igniting a life-long passion for reading and unlocking the power of literacy for its readers.
As an educator and educational
researcher, L. Malungu is concerned
that our media savvy youngsters are
losing the chance to experience the As
an educatmagic of reading, preferring
instead to rely on a more passive,
media-rich exposure to literature—
while entertaining, movies are
someone else’s interpretation of a
story. She has never forgotten how her
own love for reading was ignited at the
age of 5 during her first visit to the
school library, when the librarian
whispered in her ear — “Reading is
magic and opens the door to
everything and anything you want to
learn!
THIRD PRIZE Fiction category
Rescue Ranch Rising: Book 3
by Heidi Thomas
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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
Samantha Moser rescues horses…horses with the power to heal. She’ helps troubled teens and veterans with severe PTSD through her passion and her equine friends. Harsh Montana winters, abandonment by her fiance, in addition to limited finances, dishonest contractors, and a disastrous barn fire turn her dream of a healing center to ashes.
When the man she loves doesn’t appear to share her feelings, she’s left to overcome a mountain of doubt and fear alone.
Once again, Samantha is at a crossroads in her life. Can she reignite her romance while resurrecting her dream from ashes, or will she have to choose between them?
Heidi Thomas grew up in eastern
Montana, riding and gathering cattle.
Her parents taught her a love of books,
and her grandmother rode bucking
stock in rodeos. She followed her
dream of writing with a journalism
degree from the University of
Montana. Heidi has published ten
books and received two WILLA
Literary Awards and four Will Rogers
Medallion awards, among others. Heidi
lives in Chino Valley, where she writes
and works as a freelance editor. She is
a member of Arizona Authors
Association, Professional Writers of
Prescott, and Women Writing the
West.
THIRD PRIZE Young Adult/Juvenile category
Daughter of the Trolls
by McKenzie Catron
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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
Are you afraid of the bogeyman?
Eighteen-year-old Sparrow can’t remember a time when she wasn’t. And neither can her mother—or the trolls, imps, gnomes, and faeries who all live in the Glade and call it home. Though Sparrow’s weak heart keeps her wheelchair bound, she and her mother have dedicated their lives to protecting the Glade, especially from the worst bogeyman of them all: the skin-stealing, poison-ingesting witch called Black Annis.
But one night, Sparrow makes a terrible mistake, and everything she once held dear is taken from her. The Glade is no longer a sanctuary, and the only way Sparrow can save her mother and her friends is to journey out into a monster-ridden world that wasn’t made for her or her wheelchair. Joined by her half-goblin friend, Rush, Sparrow will have to confront her fears before the ones they love are lost forever.
A Daughter of the Trolls will appeal to fans of European folklore and the darker Grimm Brother’s fairytales. This is a spine-tingling young adult fantasy adventure about evil witches, monsters, and the imperfect heroes who face them all. You’ll join Sparrow and her faerie friends on a life changing journey where they face not only their outer demons, but their inner ones as well.
McKenzie Catron is a wheelchair bound, autistic, award-winning YA
fantasy author of the Numina Parable
series and co-author of A Traveler's
Guide to The Lucky Gryphon:
Recipes & Regalings. An Arizona
resident for more than two decades,
she lives with her doggy soulmate
and service beast, Grimm. McKenzie
is also a full-time creative makeup
artist and alternative model, fighting
against disability stigmas one
creation at a time. When not spending
her anxious days writing novels or
taking photos in her studio, you can
find her over on Instagram sharing
her art as @mckenziecatron.
FOURTH PRIZE Young Adult/Juvenile category
The Map of Orbis Terrarum
by DJ Schneider
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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
Her fate rests with the map...
It is 1967 and Fifteen-year-old Melanie Simpson's life has been ripped apart and is lying in shambles. With a mother near death, and her relationship with Frankie faltering, regaining footing, then faltering again, Mel must try to keep a balance between death, love and deceit—afraid to know which will win out.
Someone then steps into her life, changing it forever. She may need to leave home and lose her close friends; possibly forever. She also learns of a truth she refuses to believe and runs from it. But from what, and into what?
Still, she continues her quest, driven by the destiny of a connection with the Sky People and a link to the stars. She resumes her search for the mysterious Orb, a device given to her father by an alien. Now that her father has died, it is up to her to locate the Orb and finish his work.
She finds a professor who filmed him with the Orb. It shows a hologram of a sixteenth-century map, the Map of Orbis Terrarum, and displays points of energy around the world her father was studying. Could the map reveal the purpose of her quest?
But in her efforts to reach the professor, death and destruction find their hold.
The many layers of Melanie Simpson continue to unfold, driving her along the path of destiny.
DJ Schneider studied creative
writing at San Francisco Art Institute,
and later at the Log Cabin Literary
Center in Boise, Idaho. He served as
a professional writer/producer in
advertising for radio, television, and
print, having owned an advertising
agency at one point. He is a member
of SCBWI, the Alliance of
Independent Authors, and Northwest
Independent Writers Association.
Currently nearing the Orion Nebula
as he conducts research for his next
Melanie Simpson novel, when he
returns to earth he will continue work
on Melanie’s next great adventure
and other novels in his writing cave
in Oregon.
FOURTH PRIZE Young Adult/Juvenile category
Torment: Descension
by Daniel Foster
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| Find it on Amazon HERE |
David and Grace are happy new parents. Their lives couldn't be better, until their baby becomes deathly ill. How far would you go to save your child, your family? Join David on his supernatural journey as he struggles with his own morality in the choices he must make to save his infant son in this classic tale of good versus evil.
Full-time software developer Daniel
Foster is a lifelong artist and student
of the sequential art discipline.
Growing up he filled his hours with
reading comic books, drawing his
own comic book pages, or playing
pickup basketball games at the park.
Currently, he spends time cheering
for his Philadelphia sports teams with
his beloved children, taking his crazy
dog on walks, or working at the
drawing table on his Torment trilogy.
Daniel hopes that people enjoy
reading his graphic novel as much as
he enjoyed creating it.
