Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


It means ‘from me to you’

Kimi ni Todoke vols. 1-25, 27-30 by Karuho Shiina

Kimi ni Todoke vol. 26 by Karuho Shiina

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CBR18 Bingo – 26: volume 26 was all about my favorite character. The primary conflict of Kimi ni Todoke is that the protagonist looks like the girl from The Ring. Sawako’s name even resembles the girl from The Ring’s – Sadako. Because of her pale skin and evil blunt bangs, Sawako has never been able to make many friends, despite being the sweetest darling in the universe. But things change in high school. Generally, it’s a love story. The romance between Sawako and Kazehaya is […]

Come for the cover, stay for the history lesson

Armaveni by Nadine Takvorian

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CBR18 Bingo – Bird: a history teacher who deserves to be given one. And the phoenix and crane gave me enough words to review this book. But mostly the teacher. Armaveni is about Nadine finding her family’s history. It’s based on the author Nadine Takvorian’s own life and the author notes what she changed for the narrative. Most of that was temporally condensing her experiences and making herself younger than she really was when she experienced them. Nadine is an Armenian-American girl in high school. […]

Please, DON’T send in the clown

Hamlet is Not OK by R.A. Spratt

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As a teen (at least 13 and up), Hamlet is Not OK by R.A. Spratt and I would have been friends. This is because I, too, would have had some of the naive ideas about violence and mental health our main character has. Now, I still am not keen on violence as the solution and I understand the difficulties of mental health, but if you change Hamlet (and SPOILER, they do) you have changed practically everything that has come after that was inspired by it, […]

When Sparks Fly

Forgive-Me-Not: A Graphic Novel by Mari Costa

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Forgive-Me-Not: A Graphic Novel by Mari Costa has enough humor to counter the seriousness of being a changeling, the human who is stolen away and the dangers of the Fae realm. The story is pretty familiar, with simple but detailed images to move the story along as much as the text/story itself, with a Damsel in Distress (DID), her hero (who is a heroine) and bad guys.  The Princess is not a Princess but a daughter of the Fae Realm. Her Human Counterpart has made […]

I Wish That I Could Be Like the Cool Kids

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

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Every adult was a kid at one time, and probably always a kid in some ways. Either in play or wonder or understanding of the world and its dynamics. Yet, somehow, I always forget that kids intuit and navigate the same world we adults do, often with more moral clarity and insight if not vocabulary. S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a great reminder of those truths. Not just because it’s such a timeless story of coming of age, moral luck, and choice. But also because […]

Review of The Edge of Everything Short Stories

Safe Harbor by Nicola Yoon

Julia at the Drive-in by Rainbow Rowell

Winter Breakage by David Levithan

The Price of Admission by Dustin Thao

Three of Hearts by Katie Cotugno

Back to You by Ann Liang

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Here’s my review of the newest collection of original short stories with the theme of coming to age short stories that revolve around love, school, angst, and everything in between. I honestly enjoyed the majority of the stories, and only really didn’t really gel with one. Safe Harbor by Nicola Yoon and David Yoon (5 stars)-I thought the first story in the collection was great. We follow teen Isabel who has been sent to a group therapy appointment by her parents to help her get […]



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