Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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I'm a librarian, a singer, a cosplayer, an overachiever... @cosbrarian on most platforms. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Cosbrarian's 2025 Quick Questions interview.)

cosbrarian's Reviews:

Mermaids! Black Rapunzel! Fairy Tale Social Justice!

How the Rivermaid Grew Her Tale by Jessica Wilson, Sophie Bass

The Magic Callalou by Trish Cooke, Sophie Bass

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I picked up two fairy tale books to read that I didn’t realize had the same illustrator, Sophie Bass – and it turns out they go so beautifully together! The first is a folklore collection, How the Rivermaid Grew Her Tale and Other West African and Caribbean Myths by Jessica Wilson. This is aimed at an upper elementary/middle grade audience, but would be loved by anyone interested in folklore. Wilson offers a mix of traditional folktales (“How Anansi Became the King of Stories,” “Why the […]

I hope this book starts a trend!

The Magician of Tiger Castle by Louis Sachar

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OK, so I am a huge Louis Sachar fan from Wayside School days, but my favorite book of his as a kid was Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes. It was the funniest book I’d ever read (though I have a feeling one of the reasons I reread it as much as I did was because I could picture my middle school crush so clearly as the lead, he was the class clown type). I was too old for Holes when it came out, but I read […]

Fairy Tales as Free Therapy

Ripening: Why Women Need Fairytales Now by Sharon Blackie

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Ripening: Why Women Need Fairy Tales Now by Sharon Blackie is probably the only type of self-help book I like. Dr. Blackie is a psychologist and folklorist who examines how women can apply fairy tales and folklore to the different parts of their lives. She likens a woman’s life cycle to that of a tree (which is very fairy-tale of her), and makes a very sound case for the use of fairy tales as bibliotherapy. Dr. Blackie believes we are all storytellers of a sort, […]

More Like Spybrarians

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

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I’m a librarian, and I feel like I’m living in resistance to a patriarchal dystopia, so when I came across UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED, a book that touts itself as a story of librarians working in resistance to a patriarchal dystopia but IN AN OLD WEST REVIVAL (derogatory), I decided it was both close enough and far away enough to merit a read. Esther is the daughter of a powerful political man, and has been raised to be a proper daughter of one: she’s betrothed to […]

More Inspirational Than Adaptational

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

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Another great modern fairy tale collection, though very different than the Adelmann book. Link takes seven folktales and creates original, contemporary fairy tales inspired by them. “The White Cat’s Divorce” is the opener, based on my beloved Madame d’Aulnoy’s “The White Cat” – and Link’s version is actually VERY close to the original story, except for its conclusion (which is a delicious twist). But her narration sounds very “21st century d’Aulnoy,” and the basic premise is the same. So it surprised me when over half […]

Smart cookies

Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women by Kate Forsyth

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Vasilisa the Wise is one of a half dozen or so fairy tale collections Kate Forsyth wrote for children (though I didn’t know its audience going into it, and other than the fact that the photo-illustrations feature children in the lead parts, I might not have figured that out). They are traditionally but lovingly told, with a few adjustments for the modern era, which the author discusses. Each story has background information, on why the author or illustrator picked it for the book, how they […]



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