Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Though I’m not the audience for this, I think y’all need to read

Balloon by Bruce Handy and Julie Kwon

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Sorry Bruce Handy, but I am not digging the mostly wordless text to the story called Balloon. It is Julie Kwon’s illustrations that captured my attention and kept me moving along. However, I love the story that inspired your book. I really love that your son named his cat Balloon in honor of the lost balloon. And yes, the cat of your daughter has an equally cool name. I love unusual names for pets and I can only think of a few other names that […]

Carl Lewis Wishes He Was Coach….

Track V05 Coach by Jason Reynolds

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Once upon a time I was ignorant of Jason Reynolds the freaking awesome author. I do not remember which of his works I read first, but the Track series are the ones that stuck with me. The first four books are the kids the Coach trains, with each book done in its own style. With book five, Coach, it continues the world of Track and Field, learning, growing, and has its own format. It is a good conclusion of the series by showing us the […]

Reading the Room…. Or the Frog.

Frog Face by Blythe Russo

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Frog and I have a similar issue. Sometimes, I just am not smiling. A lot of the time I’m just sitting quietly and have to deal with people telling me, “You’re so quiet!” or “Why are you grumpy?” or “Why are you not smiling/Smile more!” Well, the first is rude as I don’t ask you why you’re so loud. But the second and third is being presumptuous. This is my face. I don’t always walk around with a fool grin on my mouth. I just […]

And you can read this book and that book and this other one….

Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem by Christy Mandin

Millie Feur’s Worst Day Ever by Christy Mandin

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My reading experiences have allowed me to find several solo reads and books in series that just really grab me and I get terribly excited over. One series that are more companions than true sequels are the Millie Fleur books by Christy Mandin. Having read the first two, Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden and Millie Fleur Saves the Night I figured that reading the third, Millie Fleur’s Pumpkin Problem would be a no-brainer read.  Thankfully, considering how spooky Millie can be, there were no brains (in a […]

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Just One Gift: A Thoughtful Classroom Story told through Poetry for Kids (Ages 8-12) by Linda Sue Park and Robert Sae-Heng

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Just One Gift: A Thoughtful Classroom Story told through Poetry for Kids (Ages 8-12) by Linda Sue Park and Robert Sae-Heng has a unique format to teach the children of the story, and the reader, acts of kindness and selflessness. Inspired by a form of Korean poetry, Park takes a middle school classroom and its students and gives them a task (well, their teacher does). They must pick a slip of paper from a hat. It will have Family, Friend, or ? (question mark) on […]

Neshama would make a good name for a perfume

Neshama by Marcella Pixley

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Marcella Pixley’s poetic prose novel, Neshama, is one of those books I would have loved as a kid and good for the 10 and up crowd. However, as an adult, there were a few bumps. The themes are good: being yourself, standing up for yourself and forgiveness, but first, I’ve read several middle grade readers and a lot of books with the theme so it was a bit repetitive. That is why if you’re new/newish to the middle grade coming-of-age story it works perfectly. As […]



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