Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The journey back home

Frontera by Julio Anta

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When I first picked up the reader copy of Frontera, even having seen it advertised in multiple newsletters and as an online reader copy, I only noticed the kid on the front cover. I missed the ghost figure in the back. The colors of this cover I am assuming are meant to represent the desert our narrator is traveling through, but it washes out the man in the background. However, this is an interesting design choice as this character is an interesting piece of the […]

Wombats are weird, wild and wicked funny

Wombats Are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide by Abi Cushman

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I am not sure why there is a snake in Wombats Are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide by Abi Cushman, other than comic relief. Regardless of the way, the snake and we the reader, learn all the poop on wombats (or what could be put in a picture book for ages at least five and up). Most people know wombats have square poop, but did you know they have strong cartilage butts? Or there are three types? Or that they have backward facing […]

Picture book round up

Today is a Me Day by Ev Starkey

Bear Is Never Alone by Marc Veerkamp

Stillwater and Koo Save the World by Jon J. Muth

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Picture book round up part… I’ve lost count. I will add three books that are not my OMG Best Books ever but were an interesting experience to read. Today is a Me Day is a story that is exactly what it sounds like it would be. The world has things it wants to do, and wants the young narrator to do, but she has decided she needs a day off. She is going to be happy and choose what she wants to do. She will […]

And she lived stinky ever after

Ra Pu Zel and the Stinky Tofu by Yin Chang Compestine

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I enjoy a good folk tale, and non-western ones can be a favorite. However, when it is a retelling of a western one just to be politically correct, then I can be 50-50 with it. Now if it is based in the culture (such as there are Cinderella stories from around the world, not just redoing the western version), then that I usually will enjoy. But if it is done just to have diverse characters and/or setting, but everything else is the same, those are […]

If you’re stabby and you know it, stab someone

If UR Stabby by Kaz Windness

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My rating of three is a guessed at average of all my likes and dislikes about the book, If UR Stabby. Kaz Windness created a concept of a depressed unicorn that is mostly amusing. Stabby is the opposite of other unicorns with their jellybeans and kittens and rainbows and six-packs. Stabby is anxiety and gas and stabby. Really, really stabby. Plus, they have a theme song (sung to the tune “If You’re Happy and You Know It”). But then Windness lost me. Um…. Blood and […]

“Don’t limit your dreams, that’s what the school Careers Adviser said. Within reason.”

D: A Tale of Two Worlds by Michel Faber

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A fantasy novel about words and friendship that Neil Gaiman finds glorious? How could this go wrong? I was so excited to read this book, about what might happen when the letter D slowly starts disappearing from the world and only one young girl, Dhikilo Saxardiid Samawada Bentley, seems to notice. I know some people find it cutesy, but I happen to love stories with a warm, friendly narrator who enjoys wordplay and speaks directly to the reader. It’s why The Hobbit is my favourite […]



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