Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Chap sees an swan in the cinema. He says “are you a swan?” “Yes” comes the answer. “What are you doing here?” “Well, I liked the book”.

Wild Swans by Xanthe Gresham Knight

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#cbr11bingo #Classic You most likely know at least one version of the classic story of Wild Swans by Hans Christian Andersen; but the illustrations by Charlotte Gastaut are what make this edition, retold by Xanthe Gresham Knight, fresh. Knight’s version of the story has the young princess, Eliza, sent to live with a family in a village that has not been touched by the plague that took her mother. This is after her father remarries and Stepmother knows that to keep her safe, Eliza must […]

The not so naked truth

The Chinese Emperor’s New Clothes by Ying Chang Compestine

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I saw the cover dragon of The Chinese Emperor’s New Clothes peeking up off the cart, hidden behind several other titles, it was sitting on. I enjoy a good story from Asia (particularly if it is about Japan or Chinese New Year). I was hoping this was a Chinese New Year story, instead what I got was the “true story” of the Emperor’s New Clothes. I also like alternative tellings of stories we know and this was a delightful treat. Ying Chang Compestine’s story differs […]

Some day your prince will come and he just might be a slobbery monster

Snow Pony by Christian Trimmer

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When you have high hopes for a book and it shatters your heart like your Grandmother’s Depression Glass, you are in bad shape. And yes, that is hyperbole, yet this whole book seems to be that extremeness of trying to be clever and only getting part way there. We know the story of the “Pretty Pony” and the “Not nice Pony” and we know the fact that there is a favorite girl who comes to see the Pretty Pony and one who is less than […]

Start your engines

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In The Princess and the Pit Stop the use of the different fairy tale characters is clever, but overall it is the race Vanellope of Wreck it Ralph entered with every “twisted fairy tale pun” possible. Yet, Tom Angelberger can be forgiven for that as the book is just plain funny and well done. It is perfect for the four to eight-year-old crowd. Clever illustrations of Dan Santat with his signature style and great colors help this book to be a more fun read. It […]

Street Kid James Bond

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I, like so many of you other dedicated Cannonball Book Clubbers, am working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo. I have gone abridged, and it is still a long book. In that time, I have also been interspersing my reading with quicker, lighter, fare. Enter, Kingsman. This is lighter fare if you are a particular kind of reader, or find certain kinds of jokes funny. The first few pages of issue one, where (SPOILER) Mark Hamill gets killed, by accident? Perfection as far […]

Catherine Morland Seeks Her Own Gothic Novel

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I’ve been pretty open about the idea that comics are still a reading stumbling block for me. My friend Alison loves comics so whenever she comes across something she thinks might do the trick for me, she makes sure to get it into my hands. I sometimes decline her suggestions due to time limitations, but I always try to see what she’s offering. A couple weeks ago she handed me Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey in comic form, and there was no way I wasn’t going […]



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