Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Say, you’re not around from around here are you?

How to Welcome an Alien by Rebecca Klempner

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This is a picture book that is about welcoming people in the tradition of Jewish hospitality. How to Welcome an Alien is on the surface, just about being kind to your neighbors and visitors; but the deeper meaning is accepting people who are different from you, and helping them in times of need. This can mean not just your new neighbors, but refugees, aliens or even something else. Rebecca Klempner set their book in a way all can relate. It is humorous, but serious as well. […]

Sparkle Dragons are a blast(ish)

The Sparkle Dragons (The Sparkle Dragons, 1) by Emma Carlson Berne

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cbr15bingo Strange Worlds doesn’t get more strange than Trolls making smoothies  I was not the audience for the book, The Sparkle Dragons (The Sparkle Dragons, 1). However, I know a lot of girls ages six to about nine who will love the pretty dragons, the bratty princess, and the (probably) evil unicorn (okay he is SO the evil genius of the book). The story is both typical (magic and adventures) and modern (dealing with an environmental issue and civil rights). The illustrations were minimal colors (mostly […]

I found my soulmate

A Very Cranky Book by Angela DiTerlizzi

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Usually I prefer books with a message. But sometimes you need a book that, well, is just for fun and a message is not needed. And that was A Very Cranky Book. Of course you could say that there is a message, about being a cranky person/book and dealing with friends like that, but overall, it is just a silly story by the wife and husband team of Angela DiTerlizzi and Tony Diterlizi. The cranky book is this story is, well, cranky.  They do not […]

Some princesses, a prince and a bear go on an adventure

 Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms by Rey Terciero

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cbr15bingo Politics: two rival kingdoms are pitted against each other due to lack of understanding and greed There are way too many references to modern ideas, not to mention Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky in the graphic novel, Swan Lake: Quest for the Kingdoms.  But that is part of its charm for adults. For the 10 and up crowd, it is a funny, interesting story that mixes in friendship and assumptions and sword fights together. Combining all the fantasy and science fiction elements (I can make a […]

Poor Bruce, his friends are at it again

Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow (Mother Bruce) by Ryan T. Higgins

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cbr15bingo Hold Steady: Bruce is stuck with people who do not listen to him and make him do things he does not want to.  I am not usually a Bruce the Bear (or Mother Bruce) fan. I have enjoyed the one or two Penelope Rex books I have read, but did not like Norman. Yet, when I read Bruce and the Legend of Soggy Hollow (Mother Bruce) I did not hate it. I am still not a huge fan of forcing Bruce to do things […]

Even grownups have fears

Melvina Whitmoore (More or Less a Horror Story) by Faith Capalia

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cbr15bingo Adulthood: Melvina is an adult, but has relatable issues for all of us. I was looking for a book that was a smidgen more spooky when I picked up Melvina Whitmoore (More or Less a Horror Story). Not that I wanted horror (after all it was a picture book for kids), but something “spooky” (like a ghost who says boo a lot and shakes some chains, or something like that). Instead, we get a story of Melvina Whitmoore who is afraid of everything (spiders, […]



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