
Author: Talia Zales, Illustrations by: Izzy B
Talia Zales, author of A Phone for Christmas, is a Hispanic San Diego based author. Talia was born a military brat. Her father spent twenty-three years in the Air Force, and they traveled quite a bit over the years. By age eighteen, she had already been through more than half of the United States, seeing many of the country’s most beautiful sights along the way. Beginning at one side of the country in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and later ending up in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, things seemed pretty great from the outside looking in.
Military families are modern day nomads. As a result, there are a few things military brats don’t typically have: a hometown, undented furniture, a discernible accent and long-term friendships. They do however tend to collect passport stamps, furniture with multicolored moving stickers (if you know, you know), the ability to pack all their belongings in a day, and good books! As a kid moving from place to place, Talia tried as much as possible to become a chameleon and adapt to every environment, but she was shy and the “new kid,” so she often buried herself in books—both reading and writing them.
Her father’s last duty station brought them right back to where they’d started: Fort Bragg, North Carolina. From there, he retired, and Talia decided to attend college locally. It was there she met her husband who enlisted in the Navy shortly after attending college. Fast forward several years and the cycle has repeated itself; Talia’s children have been through over twenty states by ages nine and ten.
Talia had worked as a K-12 teacher for eight years, but the move to San Diego presented an opportunity to change careers and learn new skills. She currently works as an analyst, and when she’s not working her 9-5 job, she’s driving her kids to and from extracurriculars and, later, writing quietly in the night.
Her most recent book, A Phone for Christmas is a captivating tale about the importance of family togetherness, captivating friendships and the unyielding passage of time. When all a preteen Luis wants from Santa is a phone for Christmas, what will happen when Santa sends him a red rotary phone and disables everyone’s cell phones for an entire year? Find out in A Phone for Christmas!
Preorders of A Phone for Christmas are officially live! You can pre order your copy on Kickstarter until October 1. 2022 at 2:59 am PST. After that, there will be a period of time where preorders are being filled before A Phone for Christmas will be available where books are typically sold! That means… order your copy now to ensure you get yours before Christmas! This is an all-or-nothing campaign on Kickstarter.
The goal of this campaign is to print 1st edition hardcover copies of A Phone for Christmas and distribute these copies to preorder recipients and DODEA schools! On Kickstarter, there is an option to donate signed first edition copies of A Phone for Christmas to DODEA schools. You have the option of donating a single copy to one DODEA school (and receiving the eBook for you to read) or donating ten copies of the book to ten different DODEA schools (and receiving the eBook in English and Spanish for you to read). Share this campaign with friends, neighbors and relatives to get the word out about this lovely Christmas book.
Links to her Kickstarter, Linktr.ee, and website
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