Hi. Here is some more information about one of our newest BalonaBook, and word from a pre-publication reader. Erica Augenblick, a California high school junior who read the ARC (Advance Reading Copy provided to critics and a few "civilian" readers). Erica describes herself as a "very good reader." Here is what she has to say about Joaquin Peralta's Bandits!:

"I think Bandits! is super. No question about that. I bet it becomes a big hit, not only with the junior high kids, but all people who can read and like a good story. I liked the character of Hamlet Kuhl, a really innocent kid, and how he grew throughout the book, grew in understanding of the way the world works. I liked the way Mr. Peralta handled the bandit characters, and how real they became as the story progressed. I liked how it looks like the main bad guy maybe got away, in spite of what history tells us.

Here's the response we got from Mr. Peralta, the author of Bandits!.

"I'm glad you liked my book, Erica. You caught how Hamlet "grew" in understanding. That's important for a memorable character. About the ending: Many young readers (in my high school classes and in the classes of my colleagues) have told me that they like to make up their own endings of stories. They like to "extrapolate." In Bandits!, the reader has become familiar with Hamlet's pet peeves, with his hopes and dreams, with the character of his father, with his feelings about his step-mother. He will be riding home(?) on a magnificent steed. Does that fact set your own fiction factory to work? I think that many readers who are at first disappointed that I don't tell them what happens next, will have enough information from the story to create alternate endings that will satisfy them! Anyway, I hope so. Thanks for the comment, Erica. Getting comments stirs up my creativity very nicely."

Here's a snap of one of BalonaBooks' fine editors. If a book wasn't edited by Joaquin or Chris or Jonathan, it was surely edited by Jon Riis, shown here in his usual thoughtful (peaceful) pose.
Jon's latest edits are for Joaquin Peralta's immensely popular An almost Private Eye and for Bandits!, and for Emma Snow.