Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The Gale

The Gale by Mo Yan, Chengliang Zhu and Ying-Hwa Hu

by Leave a Comment

The Gale is a beautiful and sad story. It is also a unique story and the back story is as good, if not better, about how the inspiration came about. There was a lot of love that went into this story and creation of the book. Author Mo Yan, illustrator Chengliang Zhu, translator  Ying-Hwa Hu and adapter  Xiaoxiao Guan had their work cut out for them. This is a story that looks like it is going one way, but soon goes another. It blows around […]

I wrote the review ages ago, but left the wording in present tense

This Is How I Say I Love You: Little Bunny’s Bedtime Story Told in English and Chinese by Dayong Gan

The Most Beautiful Painting: Discover the Mystery of Chinese Script (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition) by Yajuan Lu and Jian Li

by Leave a Comment

As a kid I remember checking out several folktale books from the school library. As an adult I learned to appreciate them in a way I never could have as a kid. One thing was how similar stories can pop up in different cultures, or how stories can be adapted for another setting. The other is you can learn about a country as well. And while I am not sure if the two books in this review will fit any of the above categories, or […]

Raven’ about bath time

Arlo and the Raven by Lucy Fleming

Bathtime for Snow Monkeys by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura

by Leave a Comment

Because I have one of the best jobs when it comes to books (bookseller and behind the scenes goddess) I get access to future publications. While viewing the online reader copies I have access to, I located two titles that are fall publications. One is coming out in November 2026 and one in October 2026. The first was Arlo and the Raven by Lucy Fleming, the second was Bathtime for Snow Monkeys by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Yas Imamura. I almost did not write […]

Quirky is the World

qualo & Mage vs. the Rage of the Bakunawa: A Graphic Novel Volume 1 by Kara Bodegón-Hikino

by Leave a Comment

Quirky is the first word that comes to mind about Squalo & Mage vs. the Rage of the Bakunawa: A Graphic Novel by Kara Bodegón-Hikino. And then maybe silly, odd, not necessarily original but not derivative (okay, that’s a phrase). And maybe it is not the smoothest read, but it was a fun read nonetheless. It did its job by entertaining and (for me) was an easy read to give myself a break from all the difficult things I was reading. Yet there is enough […]

The new familar

The Princess and the Grain of Rice by Tina Cho

by 2 Comments

When I first started working at the bookstore, I decided I was going to collect Cinderella stories from around the world. I found so many I had to stop. There were just too many. Then I decided that I would read as many fairy tales as I could and only collect the ones that really hit the spot.  And what book hits a spot better than a Princess and the Pea story? Or more accurately  The Princess and the Grain of Rice. However, this time […]

Impact of books and other really cool things

The Blue Jays That Grew a Forest by Lynn Street

Little Monk Writes Rain by Hsu-Kung Liu

by Leave a Comment

As you know I enjoy reading picture books. They are not just for the “kid crowd” as I have found (and highly encourage others  to do so, too) many books that give me information about something or someone I was unfamiliar with. I also find poetry, poetic prose, silliness and much more. But sometimes I am unable to write a “full review” so I must combine them to make one larger review. I do try to “theme” them, and I hope I did with the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo