Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The Lighter New Year Celebration

Friends Are Friends, Forever by Dane Liu

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Gong hei fat choy! Sun Leen Fai Lo! Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy New Year!  It is 2022 and the Year of the Water Tiger. Most January and sometimes even February babies can be born on a cusp of a year, like I was. Therefore, since I enjoy celebrating, I use both Year of the Tiger and Year of the Rabbit as “My Years.” And this year is my “official” Lunar Year and 2023 my “official” Western Year! But regardless of the year, I love […]

The more serious New Year Story

New Year (a Lunar New Year Book for Kids) by Mei Zihan

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New Year (a Lunar New Year Book for Kids) has a mature theme. Even the description of this book from the publisher uses words that set the tone of the book. It says it is a “moving…cride Coeur” and “dislocation is countered by acceptance…” and “Chinese diaspora.”  Huh? I just wanted a nice book about the Chinese New Year. I mean, it is a nice book that Mei Zihan has created, but well over the head of most picture book readers. I went farther along […]

More smiling eyes

Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho

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While gorgeously illustrated, Eyes That Speak to the Stars is a repeat of the companion book Eyes That Kiss in the Corners also by Joanna Ho and Dung Ho. However, that is not to say it is not as delightful as the first book, but I was looking for something slightly different. The story starts off with an innocent drawing by a school friend, has our narrator questioning how people see him, and how he sees himself. The picture looks nothing like him. But through […]

The stories behind the story

Tales from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

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I think Tales from the Bamboo Grove might be out of print, therefore, I am writing this review for those who might find it hidden on the library shelves, in a sale, or hiding among your own collection.  Also, to promote the other books she had written is the other point of the review. Several months ago, I learned that Yoko Kawashima Watkins had passed. I had enjoyed both So Far from the Bamboo Grove and My Brother, My Sister, and I. Those two novels […]

I like the illustrations

The Midnight Club by Shane Goth

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The Midnight Club is a lovely book. For someone other than me. The concept of Shane Goth’s picture book is cute, but something did not click for me. This is a story of two sisters and the mischief they get in at midnight while they sneak around the house. They try on clothes of their mother, eat their fathers’ jellybeans, play with the cat, and just wander about the house without a care (or parent) in the world. They mention the two walk past their […]

Double Dutch? I have enough trouble with one rope!

Fly by Brittany J. Thurman

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Africa’s brother tells her that she cannot do something she has never done before. And while Africa partly agrees, she is not going to let that stop her from entering the Double Dutch competition on Sunday. She is going to show the world what she is made of. She is going to dance, jump and Fly. Brittany J. Thurman’s picture book is about a plucky little girl and the big determination she has. Africa cannot Double Dutch, but she will teach herself how. It cannot […]



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