Best Self-Published Juvenile Novel of the Year

Silver Spring, Md., author's young-adult novel Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River, wins first place in the 14th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Award for children's/young adult fiction.

Silver Spring, MD (PRWEB) November 24, 2006 -- Lyda Phillips' young-adult novel Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River has won first-place in the 2006 Writers Digest International Self-Published Book Awards in the children's/young-adult category. Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River, which is about bullying at a girls' camp, was also a finalist in the 2006 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award contest.

Phillips' other YA novel, Mr. Touchdown, won first-place in the young-adult category of the 2006 Writers Notes Book Awards and was an honorable mention in the 2006 Independent Publishers Book Awards in the multicultural juvenile fiction category.

Reviewers have said the following about Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River:

" … a great, heart-breaking read." Writer's Digest judge's comment

"The book disturbs the reader with its incursions into psychological problems, lack of empathy for those who are suffering, the sometimes negative power of girl groups, and the unwillingness of the camp to help its counselors deal with a youngster who is disturbed. However, readers can join El in her journey of self-recognition and perhaps learn how to reflect on their own experiences." Children's Literature

"Once again, Phillips has given us a strong young voice. Described as a 'normal, healthy teenager,' El Campbell finds herself dealing with things she doesn't understand, doesn't want, and can't ignore. Hers is the heroine's journey--down, down, into the depths of her own soul; to make sense of madness, to find meaning at the heart of chaos." Susan Baronoff, Emmy Award-winning television producer

"To effectively deal with difficult topics addressed to a teenage audience such as suicide, sibling grief, guilt, anger, rejection, abnormal behavior, denial, and bullying is no easy feat and it takes a certain amount of boldness and courage on the part of the author to pull it off. This is precisely what Lyda Phillips set out to accomplish with her recent novel, Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River, and she has acquitted herself admirably." BookPleasures

"One of the things that I admire about Lyda Phillips's writing is that she brings out the inevitability of change, for good or bad. And Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River reflects how events can unravel that forever alter the way a person interacts with the world, an inevitability that we all must accept and endure, no matter how much we'd prefer not to." David Wayne Hoffman, Gloomwing Review

Mr. Touchdown and Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River are available through bookstores and Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iUniverse, Ingram and Baker & Taylor (Mr. Touchdown: July 29, 2005, ISBN 0-595-67288-4 hardcover $23.95; ISBN 0-595-35900-0 trade paperback, $13.95. Peace I Ask of Thee, Oh River: August 29, 2005, ISBN 0-595-36172-2 trade paperback, $10.95).

Lyda Phillips is an award-winning journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. A native of San Antonio, Texas, she went to school in Memphis, Tenn., and has degrees from Northwestern, Columbia, and Vanderbilt universities.

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