Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Grand Prize Winners

The 2025 Little Peeps Long List for Picture and Children’s Books
The Little Peeps Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Children’s Fiction. The Little Peeps Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience for Early Readers. Story books, Beginning Chapter Books, Picture Books, Activity Books, and Educational Books. These books have advanced to the Long List for the 2023 CIBAs. (For Young Adult Fiction see our Dante Rossetti Awards, for Middle Grade Readers see our Gertrude Warner Awards.)

These titles have moved forward in the first look rounds from all 2025 LITTLE PEEPS entries to the 2025 Little Peeps Book Awards LONG LIST. These entries are now in competition for the 2025 Little Peeps Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. FINALISTS will be chosen from the Semi-Finalists and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference, CAC26.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 18th, 2026 in beautiful Bellingham, WA at the Bellingham Yacht Club sponsored by the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2025 Little Peeps Book Awards novel competition for Children’s Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works!
- Alison Frenz – I Bet I Can Make You Yawn
- Amy B. Mccoy – Katie Finds Her Voice: A Story About Autism
- Andrew Woolnough – Nuts About Dinosaurs
- Andy M Riley – Finding Hanna’s Happy Place
- Angelina Natale – Peanut and Butter: A Sky View Farm Adventure
- Ann P. Borrmann – You Little Monkey
- Ann P. Borrmann – Never Take a Pirate’s Pearls
- Anna Gerrodette – Wild Rides with Pedal and Blaze
- Anne Polli – Mason the Magnificent
- Antonia Blackmore & illustrated by Sarah P Sharpe – Figgles & Flo the Elephant in the Room
- Ben St. James – Cowboy Cooper and the Ghost Town
- Brandon Moore – Bridget Kimble Learns Self Control
- Bridgetta Tomarchio – Monsters Don’t Say Meep Even the Tiniest Roar Can Make the Biggest Difference
- Brittany Petish- Sally the Brave
- Cal Lopez & Natalia Ulloa – Humans Are Awesome: A Kid’s Guide to Staying Smarter Than AI
- Carrie A. Buck – Ivy Learns to Share
- Christine Kessides – Tail Tale Too
- Corey Turner – Cloudy Days
- David Waugh – Benny the Lost Balloon
- Deborah L. Staunton – Owls Can’t Sing
- Dzvinka Hayda – The Legend of the Dipper
- Ellissa Schwartz – This Day I Hold Dear
- Everett Livingston – The Story of You
- G.R. Foster – The Puppy That Wanted to Be a Flower
- Gail Heath – Miracle on the Mountain: An Appalachian Christmas
- Glenda Keiper – Clancy McFancy and the Tree with Bright Green Leaves
- Gretchen K. Webber – Beanie the Weenie
- J.W. Zarek – Bella Brown Visits a Bee Farm
- J.W. Zarek – Bella Brown’s Messier Than Messy Room
- J.W. Zarek – Bella-Brown Grandma’s Missing Butterfly Locket
- J.W. Zarek – The Stomp-Clomp-Clump Monster Above the Bed
- Jane Xu – Can Pandas Be Koalas Too
- Jessica A. Macpherson – The Little Things We Do
- Jessica Mcanelly – Birdie’s Picnic Party a Tasty Take on Food Safety
- Jomo Jesus Thomas Suriel – The Angry Vacuum
- Kate Shooltz – Kate the Earthling
- Kelly Curtin and Molly Hallinan – Molly and Potato
- Kenneth Brown – Saving Private Brown
- Kim P. Chesney – A Mysterious Night at the Library
- Kim Sloan – Billy Bob’s Adventures Learning the 50 States
- Kristen J Anderson – Lorelei the Lorelei: The Problem with Science Fairs, Cicadas, and Sewers
- Kristy Whilden – Alice’s Colorful New World
- Laura Ball – Albert the Donkey Solves a Mystery
- Leslie Calimeri – One Day with Dinosaurs
- Lisa Mueller – Dot’s Spots
- Lolisa Marie Monroe – Dungoolee
- Lori Hoffman Penna – Catawampus the Story of a Crooked Cat
- Lori Orlinsky – Being Middle
- M.D. Mcalister – Phin York and the Giants of Wintercoombe
- Mark Anthony King – Trigger the Dog That Thought He Was a Horse
- Michele L Sayre – The Long Lazy Summer Wonders of Childhood Beyond
- Michelle Mcalister – Carolina Is a Knight
- Michelle Mcalister – Gilly Green Will Sing
- Michelle Mcalister – Nighttime for Everyone
- Michelle Mcalister – Snelliot the Bold
- Mike Darcy – Little Joe and the Big City
- Mike Stonecypher – There’s a Girebra in the Forest
- Miki Taylor – Bentley Finds a Hippopotomonsterous
- Mr. Steve – Fishing Is Fun
- Mr. Steve – The B Hive
- Nicole Metas – Hemi Bunny Finds a Mommy
- Olga Podoprigora – The Banana From Space and Other Stories From Riverstone
- Once Upon a Dance – Bellyrina
- Paloma Williams – Milo’s Big Beautiful Journey
- Pamela Gray Willcox – Tux the Little Emperor
- Patty York Raymond – There Was a Tenacious Teacher Who Scarfed Down a Sticker
- Payton Lynch – The Journey To You
- Rae St. Clair Bridgman – W Is for Winnipeg a Little Architect’s ABC
- Robin Currie – How Do You Sleep
- Ruth Amanda – Ess-Car-Go!
- Sally Kashner – River Song
- Sally Kashner – The Night Has a Secret
- Sherry Roberts – Amica Helps Zoe
- Sherry Roberts – Just Call Me Pardner
- Shlomo Goldman – Ryder the Spider Discovers the Body
- Svetlana Kitik – Mother’s Mega Marrow: a Gardening for Kids Nature Storybook About Growing Food, Sharing, and Outdoor Learning
- Sydney Roubian – Scarecrow Finds a Heart
- Tamara Neal – I Know Why the Red Bird Talked
- Thomas Anthony – Walter the Polar Bear
- TK Sheffield – Nellie’s Island Small Hooves Big Heart Island Adventures Start
- Tom Morency – Doris the Dragon
- Vassi Rombis – Luna the Little Witch the Magic of Teamwork
- Victoria Fletcher – Lovely Locks of Gold
- Wanda Carter Roush – The Jellybean Gospel the Born-Again Bunny
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Congratulations once more to the 2024 Little Peeps Grand Prize Winner

Island Moon

By Ruth Amanda

Click here to see the full list of 2024 Little Peeps Book Award Winners for Children’s Fiction.

We are now accepting submissions into the 2026 Little Peeps Book Awards for Children’s Fiction.

Please click here for more information.

Winners will be announced at the 2025 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2026 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 17 – 19, 2026! Save the Date for Registration!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our annual conference and discover why!
October 29, 2025
SARITA by Natalie Musgrave Dossett – Adventure Western, Suspense, Historical Fiction

Set against the backdrop of Prohibition and Pancho Villa’s waning reign of terror, Sarita by Natalie Musgrave Dossett combines a page-turning western adventure and the coming-of-age of a bold young woman.

Set in 1920 South Texas, 19-year-old Sarita has already been through tough times. She had to return from high school, and her dream of being a reporter, to care for her dying mother. As she deals with those losses, Sarita’s fiancé, Jackson Cage, deserts her.

When the vicious tequila smuggler Javier Salsito de Ortega shoots her little brother, JJ, for their horses, Sarita finds herself alone in the face of grave danger.

The Texas Rangers focus their resources on Prohibition and the border incursion of Pancho Villa’s rebels, lacking the manpower to go after JJ’s murderer. Sarita worries that her grieving father will sell their land to an oil speculator. Weak with a bad heart, he is unable to pursue justice, so Sarita takes matters into her own hands.

Once Sarita crosses the Rio Grande, she stumbles into a situation much more treacherous than she’d imagined.

It doesn’t take long for Sarita to realize she is in over her head, caught in the clutches of criminals and drunks who think women are only good for one thing. To her surprise, Jackson Cage comes to her aid. But he seems to be in league with those who killed her brother. Sarita joins a childhood friend and that friend’s great-aunt on the dangerous trek to Santa Rosa, where Sarita hopes to find Javier and get her revenge.

As Sarita faces challenges beyond anything she was prepared for, she discovers an inner strength that chafes at the restrictions placed on women of her time. “A red-hot wave engulfed me. I was tired of being told what to do; of men taking what they wanted. I was tired of being threatened. I’d seen enough.”

Sarita by Natalie Musgrave Dossett is a suspenseful novel that does not shy away from the brutality of the 1920s, the consequences that others could suffer at the hands of ruthless smugglers and Villa’s rebels just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The tension is palpable as Sarita navigates her journey to justice all the while hoping to show her father that she is capable of taking care of their land.

Sarita by Natalie Musgrave Dossett won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction.

October 29, 2025
OF WHITE ASHES by Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto – WWII Historical Fiction, Asian American Literature, Romance

When the world is upended by war, the important pieces of your life fall around you, victims of a swirling wind. This is the story of Of White Ashes by Constance Hays Matsumoto & Kent Matsumoto.

Just as radioactive ashes smothered Hiroshima after the United States dropped its first atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945, the unimaginable effects of war press down on Ruby and Koji, two kids on opposite sides of the Pacific.

Ashes caught in swirling wind become a metaphor for the romantic story of these two children. Their mirrored journeys reveal layers of their identities they never knew existed, while the demands of their warring countries reshape their lives.

Grounded in historical accuracy and part love story, Of White Ashes begins in 1939 with Ruby and Koji both living happily, Ruby in a beachfront Hawaiian town and Koji on his family’s farm near Hiroshima. Both will have their carefree childhoods taken from them after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Ruby and Koji share Japanese heritage and American citizenship, but far divergent attitudes to both.

Ruby is an all-American girl, only vaguely aware of her heritage, largely from Japanese-American community. Koji, in contrast, only finds out about his American citizenship when he discovers his parents’ secret history of living several years in the U.S. All the while, Japan, the country he calls home, plunges headlong into the war.

Ruby is ripped from her peaceful life, first by her mother’s sudden death and her father’s quick remarriage, then by forced incarceration due to the United States’ Executive Order 9066.

Made a prisoner because of her race, Ruby grows embittered about her government’s willingness to persecute rather than protect all U.S. citizens because of its entrenched racism. Her fight is both philosophical and personal, and becomes more extreme when she is told by her father that she must emigrate with him back to Japan after the war. As a child she is powerless to make her own decisions.

Koji, on the other hand, is curious and fascinated about his American heritage even though he must act like the standard-issue, politically faithful child expected by Japanese government and society.

He sees his government’s harsh demands for people to scrimp for the war effort, taking every scrap of metal in their households for weaponry, and forcing children to leave school to make rifles in factories. Once the war ends, he manages to immigrate to the U.S. where he learns to speak English, goes to college, and even volunteers to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Despite the horrors of World War II, and his early life in Japan, he emerges as a proud U.S. citizen.

Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto’s Of White Ashes develops a beautifully complex love story through Ruby and Koji dealing with their deeply held differences.

Their diametrically opposed philosophical stances cause years of heartache and stress after they meet and fall for one another. There is no easy path to pave over their conflicts no matter how many years have passed. However, as they couple, uncouple, and finally find a lasting path together, their story becomes a warm, relatable search for the goodness deep within themselves and each other that makes being together possible.

Of White Ashes by Constance Hays Matsumoto and Kent Matsumoto won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Hemingway Awards for 20th Century Wartime Fiction.

October 20, 2025
BACK To BAINBRIDGE by Norah Lally – Middle Grade, Contemporary Fiction, Friendships & Family

Norah Lally’s upper middle grade novel Back to Bainbridge sees unstable family life through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Vicki Hanlon. The story opens as her single mother has just lost another boyfriend, and the family is being evicted from their house in upstate New York.

Vicki’s memories, recalled as the family travels on the interstate down to grandmother’s apartment in the Bronx, shows the tumultuousness of her young life so far. It has left her with a world view based on disappointments, leaving friends, and the absence of a secure home.

To say Vicki’s family is dysfunctional would be an understatement. She can predict her life circumstances based on her mother’s relationships with men: happy, bereft, flirty, angry. As the eldest child, she cares for her siblings when her mother can’t despite how young Vicki herself is. Judith, her younger sister, wears her scars in the form of mistrust and cynicism, while her ten-year-old brother Dylan still clings to his stuffed bear as a small piece of reliable comfort.

Vicki’s mother deems their stay at grandmother’s home temporary, but also realizes she needs to change her life for her children’s sake. She promises this new beginning will be good for them all. Vicki can’t believe her, but one minute after meeting her grandmother she realizes this no-nonsense woman means business, and they need her for their very survival.

Vicki wants a stable home life, but she wants friends and a sense of belonging even more.

That first night in her grandmother’s home, she hears the voice of an angel. She opens the window and meets Rosa, the daughter of the building’s superintendent. They form an instant bond, and Vicki has her first friend inher new neighborhood. Then she meets James, the skater-dude whose problematic parents abandoned him to live with his aunt in the same apartment building. His parents’ past unruly behavior has left a bad impression on the other tenants, an unfortunate reputation that sticks to James like stale perfume. No one trusts him, not even Rosa, but Vicki won’t let anyone tell her who she can and cannot be friends with. She immediately sees something she likes in James and gives him the benefit of the doubt.

Vicki even refuses to judge her cranky downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Kirby, based on other people’s opinions. Word on the block is that she’s an old witch, but Vicki embraces everyone—a trait that proves invaluable as her friendships begin to blossom and change her view on the world.

When the talented Rosa leaves for a cultural-artistic summer camp, she entrusts the keys to her secret hideout with Vicki so that she can feed the rescued cats living in the basement against building rules. Vicki agrees but she has an ulterior motive for wantingthe keys; the ability to gain access to the basement storage units, especially the one holding her mother’s magenta bag. She suspects her mother has been keeping secrets about her father, whom she dreams of reuniting with in California.

What Vicki discovers in her exploration of the storage units surprises her. She uncovers forgotten treasures that tell the stories of her neighbors’ hidden lives, and as Vicki learns more about the multi-dimensional humans whom she sees each day, she realizes that there is truly more to everyone than what meets the eye, and she has empathy for them all.

Through her experiences, Vicki comes to respect the people of Bainbridge Avenue, and she becomes a builder of bridges, not walls, until even her own mother opens up to her and they grow closer.

The changes that occur over the course of this novel in Vicki, her family, and her new friends on Bainbridge Avenue show us the power of respect and understanding to heal and create lasting bonds. Vicki embraces acceptance and forgiveness, even after she learns about family secrets that her mother and grandmother have tried to keep shrouded due to shame and fear of being judged. In the end, the family is able to support one another and look ahead to better days.

Lally writes lovingly with great respect for kids and their real-life challenges, and the diverse urban setting of the Bedford Park neighborhood in the Bronx (where Lally’s own grandmother lived) is brought to life in intimate and vibrant detail. But the greatest gift you will receive by going Back to Bainbridge with Vicki in this book is the simple but profound recognition that everyone is deserving of being seen for who they are, afforded the grace to stumble and get back up again, and having a place to call home where they can feel a sense of safety and belonging. This charming debut novel is must-read for kids and adults alike.

Back to Bainbridge by Norah Lally won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Getrude Warner Awards for Middle Grade Fiction.

October 13, 2025
NAKED In The NOW by Marijke McCandless – Personal Transformation, Meditation, Mindfulness

Naked in the Now: Juicy Practices for Getting Present by Marijke McCandless is a spiritual and psychological journey for restless minds to find authenticity, awareness, and how to be fully alive—an intimate quest and relational bridge between oneself and others.

Naked in the Now takes readers to landmarks of practice and reflection towards transcending the pressure of external achievements and cultivating instead present contentment within. Refusing the tonality of “fix yourself,” this guide invites one to rediscover their naked self, with several chapters acting as open letters to read and linger over.

The introductory chapters focus on basic mindfulness and ease, while the later ones expand their scope to cover relationships, communication, and intimacy. A blend of poetic and practical styles ushers readers towards personal discovery in a way that balances firm instruction against a gentle directing hand. What coalesces by the end is a manual that calls forth one’s intrinsic goodness and connection through self-acceptance, playfulness, and vulnerability.

The Buddhist idea of Dukkha (dissatisfaction) opens the journey, with McCandless referencing a nagging feeling of missing out on something despite being superficially affirmed in life.

Ascribing this disillusionment to a “conditioned mind,” McCandless infers the solution to be in resting in the present moment. Aesop’s fable North Wind and the Sun, illustrates this idea through the power of warmth (awareness) over force.

Naked in the Now goes on to explain mindfulness and meditation in an intrinsically playful manner: employing tactics of finding four-leaf clovers and watching rainbows as childhood memories, highlighting the real joy found in the process rather than the results.

Metaphors of meditation as a “mini vacation” and “intimacy with lover” complement the intrinsically playful philosophy with practices such as breath watching, golden light relaxation, and sensory awareness. Journaling, self-inquiry, and devotion-based prayer further prepare readers to dismantle harmful mental conditioning.

Further along, Naked in the Now takes a deeper turn–the inner striptease–guiding readers with suggestions on peeling off their social masks, roles, and ego identities.

Tools such as Tarot/I Ching offer a novel perspective on the self. The focus then shifts to relationships, with pink light meditation, Tibetan tonglen (inhaling suffering and exhaling love), and love-letter exercises all reinforcing the idea that healing involves both oneself and one’s connection with others.

Centering the interplay of communication and presence, practices such as reflective listening, gestures of a smile, sacred spaces, soul gazing, and mirror meditation all work to transform vulnerability into strength.

The final stop is reaching the stage of “getting naked,” to lay bare one’s real desires and fears without filters through a gentle, moment by moment unfolding.

This is a call to meet with a raw and vulnerable being, but also the most authentic and beautiful version of self.

Each chapter cries out the motto of “Ease Over Effort”: real transformation dawns in coming home to oneself and surrendering, not in a tireless hunt for self-improvement.

A tranquil sitting with inner restlessness becomes the goal, instead of forceful control of that chaos. Corresponding themes show in Naked in the Now’s advocacy for childhood wonder over stifling adulthood. This reminds us of how mindfulness isn’t necessarily a boring or rigid practice, but can be a joyful game. Conversely, the metaphor of the inner striptease emphasizes the significance of sober authenticity and vulnerability, with oneself and others.

This book caters to readers who aspire to slow down from an over-scheduled life.

It’s a soft entry point to meditation and mindfulness, a compassionate alternative to traditional and often tedious self-help narratives. Transcending aloof philosophy, this work is an experience-based, practice-oriented guide. It invites readers to learn the ways to a life of ease, love, and wonder.

“Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen—that stillness becomes a radiance,” this quote by Morgan Freeman captures the essence of Naked in the Now. A guide that asks not for harsh effort but for an open-hearted willingness to nestle in inner moments and accept, without judgments, one’s emotions and desires.

October 6, 2025
ENEMIES DOMESTIC: Lark Chadwick Mysteries Book 6 by John DeDakis – Political Thrillers, Suspense Thrillers, Mystery

John DeDakis’s Enemies Domestic explores the pain, conflict, and intrigue behind the glitzy corridors of power, exploring with striking honesty and emotional depth the delicate battle between truth and artifice.

Beneath political headlines, a human story unfolds. Book Six in the Lark Chadwick Mystery series, Enemies Domestic comes out as a contemporary political thriller that exposes the politics of the White House amidst one woman’s personal anguish, professional stress, and inner strength.

Lark’s shattered self-confidence flounders beneath the expectations of the world. She must balance the shadows of her past, media intrigues, and power machinations as she goes from being a journalist to a political spokesperson.

We meet Lark Chadwick in her role of Press Secretary to the President of the United States, whose every word is weighed, every silence analyzed, and every gesture can become national news.

Power in this world, as Lark soon finds out, is measured not just by truths revealed, but those withheld. Every question in the press room is wrapped in politics, and inside the White House there is a strategy hidden behind every smile. Many times, Lark is forced to decide whether to tell the truth or become part of a system built on constant deception. In Enemies Domestic, enemies are not seen but felt.

Managing such a sensitive environment, Lark must hide a grief that has shaken her mental stability to show only strength in front of the world.

Tensions rise as political storms converge with personal ones. A press scandal, a security leak, and a private investigation challenge Lark on every front. She questions whether even the people she trusts are another sham. By the time she gets closer to the truth, she’s already many steps behind. Enemies Domestic gradually builds a sense of restlessness, binding the reader and forcing them to think each action through alongside Lark.

DeDakis’s clear, precise narrative style reflects his lived experience in journalism.

Short chapters balance a quick pace and deep plot. His naturalistic dialogue achieves meaning above dramatization through polite but sensitive language. Even in complex political discussion, the word-choice remains graspable.

Three central themes guide the story’s emotional weight: the contrast of power against helplessness, the role of the media, and the process of healing from grief.

Lark’s story reveals how, even at the height of power, a person may be breaking inside. In public life, vulnerability isn’t just rare; it’s dangerous.

Her inside knowledge as both journalist and representative highlights that power of media to not only report fact but also to shape public perception, even twisting the definition of truth.

As she becomes mired in political schemes and performance, Lark confronts grief as more than only internal, but as something that can deeply affect our professional decisions and persona. She can’t defer her sorrow forever.

Enemies Domestic by John DeDakis is a daring take on the familiar ground of political thrillers.

Lark Chadwick faces off against immense social and political pressure to forge a path of truth for herself. Her story makes us think about how often true emotions and human stories are hidden from the unclosing public eye.

This is a thriller that blends urgency with introspection. It not only excites but upholds compassion, truth, and courage, leaving readers with the lingering question—who is the real enemy?

Enemies Domestic by John DeDakis won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Clue Awards for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

September 24, 2025
7 days Left! Book Awards for Young Readers Close at the End of September!
Time is almost up for these Back-to-School reads!

Don’t let your book miss out!
Only 7 days remain to enter your books to these CIBA Divisions and embark on an extraordinary journey to success!

The Chanticleer International Book Awards provide ongoing recognition that amplifies authors’ digital footprints through high-traffic website features, social media promotion, newsletter spotlights, and long-tail marketing that continues promoting winners throughout the year and beyond!

The Dante Rossetti, Gertrude Warner and The Little Peeps Awards are still open!

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Little Peeps Awards for Early Readers!
- Kristen J Anderson – Lorelei the Lorelei: The First of Many Firsts
- Raven Howell – Keep Trucking
- Julie Lomax – Melissa Moo Moo’s Special Lesson
- Dr. Gerry Haller – Will’s Adventure to the Candy Mountain
- Shaziya M. Jaffer, Jessica Alexanderson and Brad W. Rudover – A Recycling Adventure to The Scrapyard!
- Mike Mirabella and Lenny Lipton – I Used to Be Shy
And a huge round of applause to our 2024 Early Peeps Grand Prize Winner:

Island Moon

By Ruth Amanda

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Gertrude Warner Award for Middle Grade Fiction!
- Thomas Kuhn – Tommy Rocket and the Goober Patrol
- Debbie Noble Black – Deetjen’s Closet
- M.J. Evans – Coal Dust and Dreams
- M.C. Dingman – Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life
- Maggie Lynch – The Power of S.A.D.
- Sue C. Dugan – Mayday
- Carolyn Armstrong – No Time To Waste
- Sandy Grubb – Just Like Click
And a huge round of applause for our 2024 Gertrude Warner Grand Prize Winner:

Back to Bainbridge

By Norah Lally

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners of the Dante Rossetti Award for Young Adult Fiction!
- Mark Kraver – The Willow
- C.H. Brown – The Appearance of Power
- Eileen Charbonneau and Jude Pittman – Spectral Evidence
- J.A. Nielsen – The Winter Heir (Fractured Kingdoms, Book 2)
- John Middleton – The Pool of Initiation
- E. L. Werbitsky – The Marsh Keeper
And a huge round of applause for our 2024 Dante Rossetti Grand Prize Winner:

The Realm of Gods

By Glen Dahlgren

The CIBAs offer a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the highly anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.

We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this critical step in their publishing.

Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 17-19, 2026) where Winners from all 28 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.

In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.

Let’s celebrate exceptional storytelling together!

Your book deserves to be discovered

Don’t Delay! Enter Today!
September 23, 2025
A BLANKET Of STEEL: The Rise of Oceania Book 6 by Timothy S. Johnston – Techno Thriller, Global Thriller, Sci-fi

In the year 2131, some people are now living in large underwater cities. They are free from the surface world’s rapidly deteriorating climate, overpopulation, rebellion, and dictatorships—but not its violent powers. In Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel, the fledgling marine union Oceania might be crushed from above, if it isn’t torn apart from within.

Most of the great upper world countries want to maintain a tight yoke on the water world, hungry for their mining resources and advanced technology. Massive warships from the world’s top terrestrial nations—China, Russia, and others—are assembling on the surface.

Truman McClusky, mayor of Trieste City off the Florida coast, declares the formation of Oceania to bring the 14 underwater cities together. Defense is their top priority. But within minutes of the announcement, a massive power blackout strikes Trieste. Is it an accident or an opening salvo?

A war with the upper world is only one of McClusky’s problems, as subtler enemies circle him in the water.

His chief of security, Cliff Sim, undertook a top-secret mission to a mysterious stretch of Oceania, and is murdered in a brutal fight. His murderer may be one of the world’s most ruthless killers, known as Steel Shiv—but why? Answering the questions of Cliff’s death might take dredging up the true nature of his mission.

Speculation about the murder turns to Ivan Arkady Ventinov, the captain of a Russian dreadnaught, one of the largest undersea subs in existence. He has vowed to reap vengeance on McClusky at any cost for the destruction of his former vessel.

Closer to home, three representatives from other undersea cities join McClusky in his upcoming fight with the land-based powers. But with Cliff’s death, and the dawning realization that information from inside Trieste is being leaked to the city’s enemies, McClusky suspects that one of the three city representatives is a spy. They could even be the Steel Shiv himself.

The tension builds when Cliff’s mission is uncovered—he was searching for a substance called “graphene.” As a coating for the exterior of undersea vessels, this super-substance could allow them to brave further into the ocean’s depths than ever before.

Warring nations, rogue international forces, would-be assassins; McClusky must battle with all of these forces at once.

Fast paced and fully imagined, Timothy S. Johnston’s tale of underwater cities illustrates political dynamics only a few small steps from our own. But it’s also a personal story of trust, friendship and betrayal. A Blanket of Steel marries its science fiction setting and human conflicts to create a complex and rapidly changing world.

A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Global Thriller Awards.

September 3, 2025
THE REALM Of GODS: The Chronicles of Chaos Book 3 by Glen Dahlgren – Epic Fantasy, YA, Action/Adventure

The Realm of Gods, book three of Glen Dahlgren’s The Chronicles of Chaos series strikes a delicate balance. It has the familiar hallmarks of fantasy: swords and sorcery, daring and disaster. Yet it also subverts expectations, avoiding a too-simple “good versus evil” narrative.

The gods wield phenomenal power, able to make their whims reality, but can be as fickle and foolish as any human. Mortal lives are inextricably intertwined with their gods, for better or worse. Even the “faithless”, who lack direct connections to the gods, are exploited and oppressed by the elaborate religious structures around them.

But there are some humans who imagined a better way, and then fought for it. The Realm of Gods begins in the aftermath of this grand battle.

A rebel group has managed to banish the implacable gods of Order by using the oppositional forces of Chaos. Banishing the gods might have been the right choice, but it cost some lives and left a complicated mess behind. Now, it’s up to the remaining characters to heal the world’s wounds as best they can.

A young girl named Eve emerges as the hero of this story, facing a chain of god-related consequences she accidentally sets off.

This book is fast-moving and action-focused—perfect for holding the attention of its younger target audience.

Dahlgren switches perspectives rapidly, weaving the viewpoints of different characters to move the story forward. A few viewpoints are surprising: even a truly detestable character gets a chance to show things from his perspective. There’s no lack of suspense as we switch from character to character and even world to world, waiting to see how all the pieces fit together.

Sometimes, those pieces come together literally. Dahlgren’s experience as a video game designer shines through in pivotal moments when two main characters, while navigating a complex unfinished temple, must solve puzzles to reach their destination. Following along as they figure it out is almost as satisfying as solving the puzzle yourself.

Author Glen Dahlgren has younger readers in mind, but the complex story he’s woven has lots to love for readers of all ages, and plenty of surprises along the way.

As the last in the series, The Realm of Gods delivers unexpected and compelling turns of fate for several beloved characters.

Dahlgren’s certainly left the possibility of a sequel open. However, in this for-now-final book, he offers closure to the story with a few twists left up his sleeve. The characters seem just as surprised by how things turn out as many readers will be.

Dahlgren also pays off the series’ longstanding questions. The gods are real in this world, but it wasn’t always that way. When two characters explore a magical realm called the Dreaming, they find they can visit scenes from the past, learning how the gods of Order came to life—in a very unexpected way. Just as the gods can be brought into the world, they can also be banished. But are they eternally bound to return, or can this world be rid of them for good?

Multiple storylines meet as a team assembles around Eve, determined to help her enact her solution to the god problem.

A world with too much Order needs the force of Chaos to keep it in check. Eve and her friends will have to go far beyond the boundaries of the known world to find the Chaos they seek, bringing the universe back into balance.

Eve’s plan isn’t perfect. Problems arise and mistakes are made. In the end, not everyone ends up quite where they were supposed to be. But as the book winds down, there’s plenty of happiness to be had in The Realm of Gods. Dahlgren lingers on joyous reunions and newly-discovered talents, giving readers one last moment to bask in his vibrant world. His characters bring one saga to a close and begin a new journey. Though readers can’t come with them down this new path, it’s a satisfying parting nonetheless.

The Realm of Gods by Glen Dahlgren won Grand Prize in the 2024 CIBA Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction.

August 25, 2025
The 2025 Little Peeps Hall of Fame for Early Readers and Children’s Books

Need a book for your Little Peep?

***The CIBAs wants your Children’s Literature Today!***

You have until September 30th to share your children’s story and enter the 2o25 CIBAs

Enter Here

The Little Peeps Book Awards features the best of the books that we read to our children and the young people who matter so much in our lives! Love of literature starts right away, and we’re proud to support these books for kids!

Cheering on the past Grand Prize Winners for the Little Peep Awards!

Island Moon
Written and Illustrated by Ruth Amanda

Ruth Amanda’s Island Moon is a magical moment captured in a poem.

The narrator lives on an island where the moon sings of fairies and the magic of the night. While out on a nighttime walk, the narrator breathes in the island scents and hears the waves kissing the shore. In the froth of the waves, and in the moon’s magical light reflecting on the water, the narrator sees the fairies dancing.

While describing all the animals active during nighttime, the narrator sees a tired sea turtle coming ashore to lay eggs. The moon blesses the creature, calling in the tide to aid the exhausted turtle back home to the sea. The songs of the night birds and the rays of the moon’s light follow the narrator back to bed and into their dreams.

The rhyming of the poem and illustrations are truly beautiful. In a few short lines and pages, you are transported to a tranquil night on the island of Barbados.

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The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans
By Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover and Jessica Alexanderson
Illustrated by Adam Trask

The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans, by Shaziya M. Jaffer, Brad W. Rudover, & Jessica Alexanderson, is perfectly written for children between three and eight years old.

Eye-catching colorful graphics by Adam Trask, fun characters, and a wonderfully lighthearted storyline uphold this book’s message of protecting the environment. Both children and adults will feel empowered to help our planet one can at a time.

An adventurous young girl named Ellie wants to buy a Unicorn. To earn the money she needs, Ellie plans to collect and recycle one million cans. But she soon realizes that her plans may need to take a different track. Together with her community of friends, who show great teamwork and perseverance, environmental lessons continue on with fantastic results.

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Ravens Roost
Written & Illustrated by Maggie Bates

Maggie Bates’s Ravens Roost is a Children’s book that explores the illustrated nighttime adventures of a woman with her friend, a small frog.

This story teaches children how to be curious about forest animals, even in the middle of a wind storm. Bates is new to writing Children’s books, and cares deeply for the natural world. Her rapport with animals likely inspired her debut tale.

Ravens Roost begins with a frog sitting on a roof, wondering where ravens go at night. The woman who lives in the house decides to help the frog follow his curiosity on an adventure. First, she climbs up a tree to watch ravens soar overhead. She admires the moon and notices the birds perching in her favorite tree. She climbs down and starts her trek along a forest path as night falls and the wind picks up. The woman tucks her frog friend into her pocket for safety. Along their journey, the frog and the woman share a special friendship.

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Victoria and The Big, Brave Breath
By Andrea Vaughan
Illustrated by Ryan Feltman

Andrea Vaughan’s Victoria and the Big Brave Breath is a beautifully illustrated children’s book, written to ease conversations about anxiety and worry with a child.

This story teaches children how to calm their nerves by focusing on their breath, using a clever onomatopoeia to help. Vaughn’s book is a timely must-read!

Victoria and the Big, Brave Breath starts with a little girl named Victoria recognizing that she is often worried. She lists examples (trying new foods, going to the doctor, playing in the park) of her anxieties. Physically-speaking, Victoria’s hands sweat, her knees shake and her tummy hurts when her feelings appear. Her teddy bear best friend Baxter has a suggestion for her to ease these unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) feelings.

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Great as a Button
By Masoud Malekyari
Illustrated by Sebastiao Peixoto

Masoud Malekyari’s Great As a Button is a delightful children’s book that places a soulful little plastic adornment at center stage in a thought-provoking story that offers up a positive lesson about self-worth.

This tale unfolds from a first person POV as a lonely, black plastic button falls off a shirt. The button ruminates over its plight of feeling too plain to be noticed, and wishes perhaps to be a sock, a key, or a pair of glasses, i.e., a more important item that the button surmises someone would go out of their way to look for.

Read More Here

Now that you’re set on your next reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Little Peeps Winners is to submit today!

Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!

August 22, 2025