Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Did you know that you can read the dictionary?

The Dictionary Story. by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

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Oliver Jeffers has created another story that is perfectly their style of writing and illustrations and Sam Winston joins the creativity to add to the party in The Dictionary Story.  While recently having become available, I did read via an online reader copy.  This time things are not what they seem at first glance. You think (or at least I did) that the book would be dictionaries and how they work. However, the author decides that to make the dictionary upset that, unlike the other […]

Free Spirit Publishing has some neat books

Thank You, Night by Dan McCauley

Thank You, Rain by Dan McCauley

B Is for Belonging by Shannon Anderson

Hello, Beech Tree! by Rasha Hamid

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A while back I saw two online reader copies that had intriguing covers (or thumbnails of the cover as it was only a small image). I liked them, but figured I knew what they were about by judging the cover. Thank You, Night and Thank You, Rain looked like they would be nice father and child stories. One set at night and one set in/around a rainy day. And I was not wrong. (Yes, I read them eventually.) They had more to them than those […]

So I fudged the category a bit… that’s words for ya!

A Chest Full of Words by Rebecca Gugger

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 Cbr16bingo Cult  As I said in another review, I am in the business (literally) of finding future publications. And though 2024 is only half over (WAIT? That much???) 2025 is just around the corner for us booksellers. And because of that, we get access to future print titles constantly. Recently I found several picture books that are going to make next year pretty darn fantastic bookwise. The below book was read via an online reader copy and is due March 2025. Also I am giving […]

How I used weltschmerz to inspire my reviews

P Is for Palestine : A Palestine Alphabet Book by Golbarg Bashi

The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah by Jane Yolen

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Currently the world events should be causing us all weltschmerz (thank you to the word of the day at our morning meeting). It means “world pain” (or a feeling of sadness about the state of the world. Melancholy or world weariness). And I am naive enough to believe that if we start reading about the people involved, it can show us how we are not different from each other, but how our similarities should be bringing us together.  Like P Is for Palestine : A […]

Become booked

Gray by Laura Dockrill

Gwendolyn and the Light: A Picture Book by Susan Yoon

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Picture books are fun, but are hard books to write reviews about. There are usually only a few hundred words (at best) and the stories short enough that to give a description of things means you told the whole book. Recently I found two books that I enjoyed, but I am not saying, “OMG BEST BOOKS EVER” about. They are cozy, their audiences are people who like a softer toned, but strong read. Please read on to learn more about them…  The picture book Gray […]

Bring Back My Color

The Gray City by Torben Kuhlmann

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While it was hard to put down, the pacing of the not-so-picture book The Gray City is a bit slow. Each chapter is only a few pages long (and as read via an online reader copy I am not sure of the final format size) but the page is filled. And even when everything is gray there is still color, hinting at the revelation our heroine, Robin, learns at the end of things.  This story unfolds, as said, a bit slowly. Torben Kuhlmann wants you […]



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