Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

No homo for Brad Pitt

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Reimagining or retelling of a classic CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge: History   Patroclus is exiled from his father’s kingdom after he accidentally kills a boy and is sent into fosterage with King Peleus. Here is where he meets Achilles, whose mother is the sea nymph Thetis. Achilles is supposed to become the greatest warrior who ever lived, and trains diligently to achieve this goal. While they are vastly different, Patroclus and Achilles become sworn companions, and Patroclus accompanies Achilles to train […]

These Were Darker Than I Expected Them to Be

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

The Memory of the Ogisi by Moses Ose Utomi

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These 3 books comprise the Forever Desert trilogy. Each takes place 500 years after the previous, and while I think they can be read independently of each other (the acknowledgements in the 2nd book imply that), I would recommend reading them in order. The novellas play around with truth and how it’s distorted by history, and by reading all 3 in order, readers will have an overview of events that the characters don’t have. It makes for an interesting reading experience. And all 3 books together makes […]

Home-Grown Monsters

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

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Who says all the fantasies with sword- wielding heroes and heroines have to be in Middle-earth, Westeros, or even our dreams of Africa past—what the Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen reminisced as “copper sun or scarlet sea”?…Fantasy stories often feature characters in medieval settings taking on monsters. I figured a young Black woman in 1920s Georgia could be that character too. Even gave her her own sword. The monsters she has to fight are plucked right out of our own history—perhaps made more terrifying because […]

Just because it is set at Halloween doesn’t mean you can’t read it anytime you want!

Ghoulia volume 1 by Barbara Cantini

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Yes, Ghoulia volume 1 is a Halloween book, and maybe it is because I love Halloween, but I would read this book by Barbara Cantini all year round. It has humor and is low-key spooky. Most ages can appreciate it, however, the only thing that might be a smidgen much for the younger or sensitive reader is the fact that the “Halloween Candy Bag” our friend Ghoulia carries, is the actual head of her uncle and she will remove her own head near the end […]

When the zombie outbreak happened, I didn’t expect zombie gnomes

Hooves of Death, Volume 1 by Sam Bragg

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While I liked this book, I’m not really sure how to write about it. Hooves of Death, Volume 1 by Sam Bragg has many of the familiar themes, settings and story arcs you find in young adult literature, but it is also new and fresh. There are parts I did not like, parts I loved and one or two parts where I went “huh?” There are ups and downs. We follow one human and a few unicorns that escaped the destruction of their compound (don’t […]

After you moo, baa and lalala

A Dance with Santa Claus by Sandra Boyton

Smooches! by Sandra Boyton

Iguana Miss You! by Sandra Boyton

When Pigs Fly!: A Song for Dreamers by Sandra Boyton

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When my nephews were little I used to read Moo, Baa, Lalala by Sandra Boyton to them. I would read it so many times that I almost could read it without having to actually look at the book itself. Now, I need to make sure my great-niece has it so I can continue the tradition of reading to her (and having way too much fun making voices and sounds with her). And I will also be able to add a few new ones (or at […]



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