Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Which pollinator has the shiny hiney?

The Great Pollinator Count by Susan Edwards Richmond

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The subject in The Great Pollinator Count by Susan Edwards Richmond is not new, but the presentation is fresh and gives the information in an informative (even I learned a few things; such as how to know which pollinator has the shiny hiney) but it is also done in a fun manner. Learning to count the insects, learning about the plants included and more make this a clever book. I wish the illustrations by Stephanie Fizer Coleman were a bit more realistic, but they work […]

Ten sticky frog eggs cling to a leaf

One Tiny Treefrog: A Countdown to Survival  by Tony Piedra

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One Tiny Treefrog: A Countdown to Survival  Tony Piedra and Mackenzie Joy (read via an online reader copy; due mid-late September 2024).   This book is about the life cycle of a tree frog as well as also being a counting book. Starting with the number 10 and going down to zero, we follow a tree frog’s life from eggs to tadpole to adult. We also see the rainforest and the animals in it. The reason for the countdown happening is a bit on the darker […]

Animal Book Round Up Time

The Knight Owl #2 Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher  Denise

The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood

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It is Animal Book Round Up Time! Both books were read via an online reader copy.  The Knight Owl #2 Knight Owl and Early Bird is the second Knight Owl book by Christopher  Denise. (Though you must wait until mid October 2024 for it to be available.) We now have a young early bird who wants to be a Knight Owl as well, but of course, things do not work out as well as they would have liked. After all they are not an owl, […]

Purple thumbs and stabby plants

Prunella by Beth Ferry

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Along with Millie Fleur’s Poison Garden by Christy Mandin, the picture book Prunella by Beth Ferry and illustrated by Claire Keane, has given me a new category for books I like: Plants that are Not Your Cute Fluffy Pretty Garden Variety. The surface story is the same with both books: girls who love the spookier, odd, weird, dangers, spiky, thorny plants. They like them so much that they are isolated from their communities and peers. In both cases, the parent(s) encourage this individuality, even if […]

Jackson and Irwin the Thylacine: Adventures! Mystery! Gross Foods!

Jackson's Wilder Adventures Volume 1 by Sarah Davidson

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Jackson’s Wilder Adventures Volume 1 by Sarah Davidson is probably my favorite book read this week. Or even this year. Now, granted it is not because it was some elaborate affair of great worldly writing, but because it was a simple book that was a great introduction for the science reader. This fantastic science book works for the younger reader aged 6 to young 9. You are exposed to a situation (“gross food” or “scared of moving”) and then how animals can have a similar […]

Dwindle, Peak and Pine

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

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Birnam Wood are a collective of idealists. They roam around the New Zealand city in which they are based and grow vegetables on unused plots of lands, occasionally with permission of their owners. People volunteer bits of time and effort, driving around the city looking for mulch or abandoned pieces of plastic tarp to cover the plants, weeding the lots and collecting rainwater. Everything is recycled. Important events are democratically decided during a meeting known as a hui, in deference to the Maori, but ostensibly […]



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