Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


When your Christmas is Halloween

Halloween Tree by Susan Montanari

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When I first saw the title Halloween Tree I thought the cover was not matching what I was thinking. What I was thinking about was Ray Bradbury’s novel of the same name. But then I wondered if it was possible to adapt it to a picture book format? Especially with such a cute cover? Yes, it is possible, but the real question is should it be adapted. Well, thankfully (I guess) it was not that Halloween Tree but its own unique story. Susan Montanari’s Halloween […]

What used to hold us in community no longer works.

The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do by Casper ter Kuile

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That’s what this book is all about–taking things we do every day and layering meaning and ritual onto them, even experiences as ordinary as reading or eating–by thinking of them as spiritual practices. ― Casper ter Kuile, The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do As a control freak and a lover of routine, I appreciate and find calm in performing my daily rituals: making my coffee, showering with my favorite tunes playing, checking and culling my collections in […]

To tell their stories

Home Is a Door We Carry by Constantin Satüpo

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Home Is a Door We Carry is a hard book to read, and not just because of the subject. There was a flowing issue for me. Things are simple and at times almost too simple for my personal tastes. Maybe different art could have enhanced my personal journey, but also I know that this is what author Constantin Satuppo needs to tell his story. Satupo is trying to give you the emotions of refugees (the voices of the children seen in the images) having to […]

Parents! Whatcha gunna do?

The Schlemiel Kids Save the Moon by Audrey Barbakoff

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A year back the book The Schlemiel Kids Save the Moon by Audrey Barbakoff and illustrated by  Rotem Teplow came out. I found it hidden in my online reader links, so I had the pleasure of reading it that way. When I finished reading I felt that it was a cozy, silly folktale, and the usual antics that can be labeled as way too over the top and frankly stupid, were not there. I was, okay the adults are not the brightest people, but nobody […]

Some cheer

The Old Sleigh by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey

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As another companion to the stories The Old Truck and The Old Boat, (which I do not believe I have read) the book The Old Sleigh is added to the clever creators Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey stories. A horse-drawn sleigh against a snowy background is loaded with the firewood a boy and father cut and deliver to a small village. As the village grows and the sleigh starts to fall about as it ages, we see how the changes happen and though things have […]

One tough Cookie

Rainbow Cookies by Lesléa Newman

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I was nervous that I was not going to like Rainbow Cookies by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Z. B. Asterplume. I have read several LGBTQ titles and they were starting to feel repetitive. Not to say they were bad or anything, I just wanted something a little different than what I had been reading. And Newman’s book is it. We really focus on the idea of helping each other in our community via a special cookie. We are focusing on Love is Love, but […]



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