Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: kb-shaw

  • CELEBRATING CHILDREN’S BOOKS with GERTRUDE WARNER Awards for Middle-Grade Readers – Action/Adventure, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magic, School, Sci-fi

    CELEBRATING CHILDREN’S BOOKS with GERTRUDE WARNER Awards for Middle-Grade Readers – Action/Adventure, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Magic, School, Sci-fi

    Here at Chanticleer, we love Children’s literature! There is just something about a truly well-told story that sparks the imagination of the young – and the young at heart.

    So, as we celebrate Children’s Book Week – May 4 – 10, 2020, allow us to bring along a few friends and share with you some really good books.

    Gertrude Warner Children's Chapter Books

     

    Did you know that 2020 marks the 96th anniversary of the first edition of the first book The Boxcar Children by Gertrude C. Warner?

    It’s true! We titled the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) division for middle-grade readers The Gertrude Warner Awards in honor of the author of the well-loved children’s The Boxcar Children Series.

    I guess you could say, we’re fans. BIG fans!

     

     

    We love Gertrude and so many others! Here’s a little list of some of Middle-Grade Children’s authors you probably already know: 

    Ron Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

    J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter series

    Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians

    R.J. Palacio – Wonder

    Lemony Snicket – The Series of Unfortunate Events

    Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time

    Louis Sachar  – Holes

    Kelly Barnhill for The Girl Who Drank the Moon

    Neil Gaiman – for so, so many books!

    Lois Lowry – The Giver

    Now – a very special treat! Please take the time to find out about some of our very own personal favorite Middle-Grade Children’s Authors: 

    The Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers – FINALISTS for 2019 – are 

    • Amber L. Wyss – Phoenix Rising     
    • M.J. Evans – PINTO!   
    • M.J. Evans – The Stone of Wisdom – Book 4 of the Centaur Chronicles
    • Beth Stickley – Tarnation’s Gate    
    • Rey Clark – Legends of the Vale   
    • Laura M. Kemp – Burnt Feathers   
    • Alex Paul – The Valley of Death, Book 5, Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals
    • Trayner Bane – Windhollow and the Axe Breaker (Windhollows, Book 3)
    • Carolyn Watkins – The Knock…a collection of childhood memories
    • Liana Gardner – 7th Grade Revolution
    • Nancy McDonald – Boy from Berlin
    • Wendy Leighton-Porter – The Shadow of the Tudor Rose 
    • Kit Bakke – Dancing on the Edge
    • Mobi Warren – The Bee Maker
    • C.R. Stewart – Britfield and the Lost Crown
    • B.L. Smith – Bert Mintenko and the Serious Business

    These titles are in the running for the First Place positions of the 2019 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers

    – and one will be named GRAND Prize Winner!

     

     

     

    The 2018 Gertrude Warner Book Awards Grand Prize went to Jules Luther – for the unpublished book, The Portals of Peril

     

    2018 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers First in Category Winners

    • Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth by Alexander Edlund
    • Guinevere: At the Dawn of Legend by Cheryl Carpinello
    • The Portals of Peril by Jules Luther
    • From the Shadows by KB Shaw
    • Tallulah’s Flying Adventure by Gloria Two-Feathers
    • Vampire Boy by Aric Cushing
    • The Adventures of Rug Bug by Kay M. Bates

    Paul Aertker took home the CIBA GRAND PRIZE 2017 Gertrude Warner Book Awards Grand Prize for

    BRAINWASHED: CRIME TRAVELERS SPY SCHOOL SERIES 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    2017 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers First in Category Winners

     

     

    The 2016 Gertrude Warner Book Awards Grand Prize was won by Alan Sproles & Lizanne Southgate for their work, The Train From Outer Space.

     

    2016 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers First in Category Winners are:

    Are you interested in seeing how your Middle-Grade book stands up to the competition? Submit them to the Chanticleer International Book Awards and we will choose the best among the entries!

    Click here for more information about The CIBAs! 

    Gertrude Warner Children's Chapter Books

    The deadline to submit your book for the Gertrude Warner awards is May 31, 2019. Enter here!

    The deadline for 2019 submissions has been extended to June 15, 2019. Grand Prize and First Place Winners for 2019 will be announced on September 5, 2020, at the CIBA Awards Banquet.

    Any entries received on or after June 16, 2019, will be entered into the 2020 Gertrude Warner Book Awards.

    As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your Middle-Grade Reader deserves!  Enter today!

    The GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

    All Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the first-place winners will be whisked up on stage to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of dinner, networking, and celebrations! 

    Don’t delay! Enter today!

  • FROM the SHADOWS by KB Shaw – YA, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure

    FROM the SHADOWS by KB Shaw – YA, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure

    In the tradition of H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov, K.B. Shaw’s From the Shadows piques the reader’s imagination. In the world where Cameron Rush, a shy, geeky boy from Wisconsin, and Rosa Costas, the bright, sassy daughter of a New Mexico ranch foreman, live, twenty-first-century technology makes a quantum leap and changes the nature of human experience.

    Sounds amazing, right? This new technology could take tailgating to a new level. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

    Only, Robert K. Merton’s law of unintended consequences still prevail. So, there is that…

    Fifteen-year-old Cameron and Rosa have never met in person. However, they know each other well, as they met in a chat room, and talk daily on their multiComs. The couple takes GundTech’s multiCom technology — computers, without cameras, that capture images and display them in a way that allows virtual eye contact among users—for granted. It’s been around forever, well, at least ten years. They also take for granted their personal AIs.

    A multiCom computer’s artificial intelligence (known as its AI) allows it to think, have personalities, experience emotions, and develop self-images. Each computer’s AI is unique and requires that the user demonstrate respect and courtesy to get a requested response. Cameron and Rosa understand this — as the rules of operation were clearly explained in the operating instructions. Therefore, they are never surprised when Sam and Vee, their respective multiCom AIs, sometimes add their two bits worth during conversations.

    But they never expect to meet the AIs in person.

    Unbeknownst to them, Cameron and Rosa were preordained centuries ago to play an integral part in the technological evolution triggered when GundTech’s mysterious creator introduces the Interactive Holographic Transmitter. With the IHT, time and space can be manipulated enabling humans, alone or collectively, to touch, see, hear, and ultimately, smell, and taste events as they happen.

    Throughout this complex, fascinating tale, Shaw manages to keep the teen protagonists real and likable. They are “in touch” with their families, community, and school; they tease, flirt, grumble and complain, and impress the reader with their spirit and ingenuity.

    In this well-crafted book, the amalgam of speculative fiction with a hint of Gothic eeriness works very well. What happens, to whom, how, and why is the stuff of possibility thinking. Fast-paced and engaging, with no loose ends, From the Shadows provides readers no opportunities to rest or close the book. Here’s a YA novel that’s a good read for any age.

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

  • NEWORLD PAPERS: THE WARRIORS’ TALE by KB Shaw, sequel to the Neworld Papers series

    NEWORLD PAPERS: THE WARRIORS’ TALE by KB Shaw, sequel to the Neworld Papers series

    The highly-anticipated sequel to Neworld Papers: The Historian’s Tale brings readers back into the mysterious Neworld, a world founded by former inhabitants of Earth who fled after the planet fell to chaos and war. Deemed genetically superior and above violence, these founders created a utopia that appears to be free of war, greed, lust, and the worst of human nature.

    When Fallon, a teenager with a photographic memory and an unusual drawing talent, was thrust into the middle of an underground movement, he discovered that his world has deep, dark secrets. He ventured into the depths of the world, documenting the planet’s true history, the motives behind the world’s leaders’ acttions, and the heinous crimes they had committed. Fallon became Neworld’s very first truthful historian.

    Now, in Neworld Papers: The Warrior’s Tale, Fallon is revered as a hero in the Solarist movement as his written records of truth make their way around the world. As everyone in the movement looks to him for leadership, he must choose the direction of the rebellion: reverting to ancestral violence or embracing a path of peace.

    Once Fallon rallies the Solarists, he finds himself once again exploring Neworld to uncover ancient secrets as his underground companions discover how their enemies have been controlling their forces and are working to regain manipulation of the truth ad history.

    Shaw has expertly built a world that draws readers into its rich and complex past. Neworld was founded with the purpose of eliminating everything that is wrong with human nature and to create a utopia that dictates the lives of its inhabitants through contracts and emotionless interactions to maintain peace. But, as we know, human nature doesn’t like to be controlled.

    Beyond the fascinations of Neworld, readers are coaxed into the lives of complicated and endearing characters. Fallon and his companions cope with the scars of violence and loss, while coming to terms with fiery emotions in a world that tries to suppress them. Fallon and his companion, Addie,  to navigate a tumultuous relationship while they come to terms with how they came to this world and what they must do to take it back.

    The Neworld Papers series by KB Shaw is a beautifully sculpted work of science fiction that delves into the complexities of human emotion through characters who battle grief, explore romantic ties, and defy global suppression.

  • NEWORLD PAPERS: The HISTORIAN’S TALE by KB Shaw

    NEWORLD PAPERS: The HISTORIAN’S TALE by KB Shaw

    A young man’s unique talents plunge him into the center of a revolutionary movement and force him to make decisions that could destroy his world, the peaceful Neworld with no concept of war or murder.

    In a world where all forms of history are forbidden, Fallon becomes the Historian for a new age using his power of observation to unlock long-buried secrets and reveal the truth about Neworld’s origin. But truth, no matter how noble, has teeth as well as limits and those limits are tested as Fallon is forced to choose between the status quo and the potential destruction of Neworld society.

    Through first-person narrative, K.B. Shaw’s engaging world-building novel introduces the reader to Fallon, a foundling who’s lived his first 17 “annums” as a ward at the Neworld school known as the “Mount.”

    Fallon’s inferior status places him in the servant’s quarters rather than the classroom but his unique set of abilities and his hunger for knowledge give him hope as he anticipates the arrival of his 18th annum – the date when he comes of age and claims his freedom.

    His hope is crushed when, days shy of his legal liberation, the head of the Mount “sells” him into what he fears is indentured servitude. In reality Fallon’s time at the school has been closely monitored. His talent for rendering detailed drawings from his perfect memory makes him an asset to the revolutionary Solarist Movement. Those same talents mark him as a danger to the Council, the ruling body of Neworld. Fallon’s fate is now in the in the hands of the Solarists, as much for his protection as for their use.

    In Neworld Papers Series 1: The Historian’s Tale the author has created a planet rich in textural detail from the native plants and creatures to the underground world where technology lies like treasure waiting to be unearthed. At times the pacing slows when Fallon is trying to make sense of objects and life forms that are foreign to him but using Fallon’s innocent and decidedly un-worldly point of view enables the reader to enjoy the journey and stand alongside Fallon as he encounters each new discovery with clear, unbiased eyes.

    Author K.B. Shaw effectively uses Neworld Papers as a platform for deeper thought by providing moral dilemmas that continue to challenge mankind, not the least of which is the question of how truth, freedom and control can intersect to create a functional society.

     Neworld Papers: The Historian is an engrossing Science Fiction novel with a thought provoking premise, awesome world building, and more than a dash of romance. An overall enjoyable read!