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:

Revisiting a queer collection from my ’90s youth

Am I Blue by Marion Dane Bauer

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I picked up Am I Blue?, an anthology of “gay and lesbian” stories for young adults right around when it was published in 1994. I was in middle school, which I had entered with a new haircut that earned me a lot of accusations from more ignorant classmates. But I think this was just a coincidence; I don’t remember questioning my sexuality or gender despite those comments. I expect I either picked it up out of curiosity about the gay community, or that my mom […]

Oh God, I’m Discoursing (Mac Barnett’s MAKE BELIEVE)

Make Believe by Mac Barnett

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Mac Barnett is one of my favorite picture book authors. My favorite book of his, The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown, is one of my favorite picture books period. I reviewed it here for this very reading challenge! So I eagerly preordered my copy of Make Believe, his first book for adults, a book about the craft of writing for children. I got tickets to see the launch event of his book tour, a conversation with Jeff Kinney at Kinney’s indie bookstore in Plainville, MA. […]

A graphic novel to introduce classic novels

The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln

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The New York Public Library has a secret. After hours, a group of librarians called The Night Librarians make sure book characters stay put in their books. You see, the older a book is, the more bored its characters are of reliving the same old story day after day. So the Night Librarians make sure Peter Pan flies back to Neverland and Scrooge stays put in Olde England, and most alarmingly, that Captain Hook, the ghosts, and other dangerous villains don’t wreak havoc on library […]

A graphic novel about a graphic interest

Murder Book: a graphic memoir of a true crime obsession by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell

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Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell is a cartoonist, comedian, and true crime fanatic. Her graphic memoir is a light-hearted tribute to true crime and an exploration of why she and so many of her peers love it. I reviewed Rachel Munroe’s Savage Appetites earlier this year, and I’d say this book is the funny, optimistic true crime fan memoir in pairing with Munroe’s more dramatic, sobering one. (Both equally essential reading for true crime fans.) Campbell’s graphic memoir is in black and white, both in sync with […]

The kids want more … words?!

Things in the Basement by Ben Hatke

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Things in the Basement is a backlist graphic novel title by Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl, Mighty Jack). It concerns a boy named Milo who is sent to the creepy basement by his mother to retrieve the one pink sock that will make his baby sister stop crying. When Milo sees the sock snatched up by a rat-like creature, he chases it, and discovers that his basement opens up in to many creepy levels, full of monsters, ancient art, and a friendly ghost. This is […]

“Marriage was like death”

Secrets Beyond the Door by Maria Tatar

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You’ll notice a pattern: I’m deep-diving into crime and violence, in fairy tales and beyond. Secrets Beyond the Door is a book of essays exploring the Bluebeard fairy tale and its influence. People are really obsessed with this fairy tale! I guess I’m as guilty. The book starts with Charles Perrault’s 17th century version that popularized the tale, then goes through its evolution in gothic literature (Jane Eyre, Rebecca), twentieth century literature (Vonnegut, King), women’s perspectives (Carter), and how it crosses over with true crime. […]



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