Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Though I’m not the audience for this, I think y’all need to read

Balloon by Bruce Handy and Julie Kwon

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Sorry Bruce Handy, but I am not digging the mostly wordless text to the story called Balloon. It is Julie Kwon’s illustrations that captured my attention and kept me moving along. However, I love the story that inspired your book. I really love that your son named his cat Balloon in honor of the lost balloon. And yes, the cat of your daughter has an equally cool name. I love unusual names for pets and I can only think of a few other names that […]

The boy, the wardrobe, the legacy

The Boy Behind the Wardrobe: How C.S. Lewis Grew Up to Create Narnia by Suzanne Poulter Harris and Mira Miroslavova

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The Boy Behind the Wardrobe: How C.S. Lewis Grew Up to Create Narnia by Suzanne Poulter Harris and illustrated by Mira Miroslavova (due mid-late October 2026; read via an online reader). Most people have read the C.S. Lewis series of Narnia. I am not most people. Granted, a teacher did read one or two to us in about third or fourth grade, but I really do not remember them. I do vaguely remember the movies of a few years back (pre X-Men James McAvoy), but […]

3 books for the price of one review

Kiki and Me by Leo Timmers

Mariposa's Journey by Belen Medina and Juana Martinez-Neal

Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas...According to Max! by Alastair Heim and Aristides Ruiz

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As you know, picture books are one of my favorite reads. I read and finish a book while I have a few free minutes, but do not have a lot of time to be “deep diving” into the reading world. And I get to have some fun images to help me imagine what the characters are up to. I get a picture of what the author wants. But I can’t always write a lot about each one, so here we are with a roundup of […]

I was going to use for Bingo, but I had way too many saved reviews and needed to pick!

The Great Puptective V03 The Big Mousetake by Alina Tysoe

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The Great Puptective V03 The Big Mousetake by Alina Tysoe is a cute third story in her Puptective series and has lots and lots of fun extras.  Oh, I probably should introduce the series. If you are not familiar with the Great Puptective series (book one is The Great Puptective and volume two Purranormal Activity) you should read them first. While book three is a bit of a standalone title, you’re going to want to have read all the books about this precocious pup and […]

Everyone but the chihuahua is a suspect

The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan

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CBR18 Bingo – Or: I can read about violence against women or… violence against women. I started The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie when I decided I wasn’t up for a mystery so dependent on real world violence against indigenous women and people. Then I jumped into this book like an idiot because I liked the cover. It was too late to go back by the time I realized Jennifer Givhan’s The Sleeping Sisters was inspired by the unsolved West Mesa Murders. I was hooked […]

A novel of rebellions, large and small

The House of Doors: A Novel by Tan Twan Eng

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Cbr18bingo Justice: a murder trial is a key part of the story The House of Doors is a work of fiction that includes real people and a real murder trial that occurred in Kuala Lumpur in 1911. The murder trial of Edith Proudlock became the subject of a W. Somerset Maugham story, The Letter, which later became a play and film. In this novel, author Tan Twan Eng imagines how Maugham came to write that story. Set in Penang, Malaysia, it is a story of […]



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