Action-Filled Children’s Fantasy Featuring Black Characters and Positive Message Receives USA Book News Best Books 2007 Recognition

Ukiah, CA, November 13, 2007 --(PR.com)-- The Call to Shakabaz by Amy Wachspress is an award-winning Finalist in the children’s fiction category of the USA Book News Best Books 2007 book awards. This is the third national award for this unusual gem of a read. In The Call to Shakabaz, the recently orphaned Goodacre children travel with their pesky parrot to the distant land of Faracadar on a quest to retrieve the powerful Staff of Shakabaz from the evil enchanter Sissrath. When the young protagonists discover that violence is foredoomed to fail against Sissrath, they must use their wits and imagination to defeat him. A terrific family read-aloud with cross-generational appeal, this book demonstrates the fundamental principles of nonviolence as practiced by Dr. King within the context of a real page-turner that has the reader hooked right through to the unexpected, magical climax.

While raising her three multicultural children, Wachspress sought books with ethnic children in them. She noticed that almost all of the best African American children’s and young adult fiction is not fantasy, instead relating historically accurate stories of a realistic nature. Knowing how much she and her children loved fantasy adventures, she vowed to write one herself that was set in an African American cultural context.

The Call to Shakabaz is filled with adventure, colorful endearing characters both human and nonhuman, magic and enchantment, thought-provoking threads to spark discussion, children on a hero’s journey, and of course, an epic struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

Winner of an iParenting Media Award and selected as a 2007 Indie Excellence Book Awards Finalist, the book is a five-star favorite on Amazon. Stephanie Vela, children’s books manager at Black Oak Books in Berkeley, California, reports that the book was one of her top 10 children’s books sold this spring. Reviewers promise that if you like the Narnia books and Harry Potter, you’ll love The Call to Shakabaz.

Author Amy Wachspress has combined a passion for children’s fantasy stories and a heartfelt belief in the power of nonviolence with a love of African American culture to create a rip-roaring ride with magic, depth, and soul for readers of all ages.

Media kits and review copies available upon request.
Contact: Amy Wachspress (707) 468-4118 amy@wozabooks.com
Visit www.wozabooks.com

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