Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Curse of Obedience

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

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I need to take some time and revisit the children’s books I missed between the years I was “too old for kids books” and “not a children’s librarian yet.” I grabbed some CD audiobooks for a road trip (I’m trying to lean into the retro vibe of my “new” car), and among them was Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, which was published (and won a Newbery Honor) in 1997. I would have been just starting high school, so I missed both this book and […]

One for the season, the other anytime

The Sleepless Nights of the Boy with No Eyelids and Other Twisted Tales by Marmalade Atkinson, Alex Thompson and G P Taylor

Say Hello to Mr. Wallaby! Volume 1 by Marume Goshika

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Before I started to write a review for The Sleepless Nights of the Boy with No Eyelids and Other Twisted Tales by Marmalade Atkinson, Alex Thompson and G P Taylor, I said to myself, “I have read too many books!” (Who am I and will the real Raven stand up???). You see, I couldn’t find another book I thought I had written a review for and I wasn’t sure how to start this review, as it was blending into another book (a third book) I […]

Allergies…not like i’m crying or anything

Grandpa’s Cats by Chih-Hao Yen

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I might recover from the sadness that Grandpa’s Cats gave me by March 2027, but I’m not sure. It might be a funny and sweet, but it’s also a difficult story of loss. But there is loss. Especially at the end. The end has a bad scene that shows why Grandpa isn’t taking care of the cats, and Grandma is (somewhat) taking care of them. Chih-Hao Yen, do you enjoy making me cry? And laugh and cry again and grumble? Hui-Yin Hsueh did you have […]

There is a lot going on in here!

Luck of the Draw by Christine Suggs

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Have you ever read a book that said, “yeah I dig it, nope, okay, maybe, yeah it works”? Well, Luck of the Draw by Christine Suggs was one of those books. It is an interesting look at being queer in today’s world, plus issues of our higher education system such as how to fund it. It looks at being a person of color, privilege, a queer person of color, friendship, the concept of “out there is better than in here” and even religion to a […]

The other school lesson

President of the Anime Club: A Graphic Novel by Stephanie Evangelista Fukuda and Daigo Fukuda

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This year has been a plethora of “I almost did not write a review for that.” And President of the Anime Club: A Graphic Novel by Stephanie Evangelista Fukuda and Daigo Fukuda was one of them. Why? (You ask). Because it seemed like too simple of a story. There were some problems I had with the characters. And, frankly, I was not in the mood to write up a review. But I sat on it, and realized I just needed to do a commentary (with […]

Into the belly of the beast

Wolf's Belly by John August and Simón Estrada

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Wolf’s Belly by John August and Simón Estrada (illustrator) is a fairly intense, unique but also familiar, graphic novel. It has a narrator voice, but is told from the perspective of the girl with the red cape (we always forget her name). So, to make sure she gets her due, we learn her name is Lu (Little Red Riding Hood), and in a turnabout, her parents and many siblings have no names. They have actions or a personality (her mother is a great warrior, her […]



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