Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The Abuela, the Grandson and the Parrot

Squawk of Spanish by Gabriella Alderman

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I have read several books about “not speaking language X” and the troubles it causes with family and/or friends. This time, in Squawk of Spanish, we have a young boy, Max, who cannot speak Spanish well (he has trouble with his rolling Rs), but that’s okay, his grandmother’s parrot does! So when the two (abuela and grandson) bake together, between the three of them, they have their routine down and get the job done. But when the parrot has decided to not to come home […]

Based on a true story

Rostam's Picture-Day Pusteen by Ryan Bani Tahmaseb

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Rostam’s Picture-Day Pusteen by Ryan Bani Tahmaseb and illustrated by Fateme Mokhles is a read via an online reader copy, due in July 2024 book that really hit the spot. It is diverse and the theme of being different with a positive attitude from the start gives it a fresh take.  Rostam is a newly immigrated child. His mother and he are starting fresh, while his father is still in Iran, and is to join them as soon as he can. In the meantime, the […]

Old and New Traditions

Just Us by Molly Beth Griffin

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I am one of those people who do not like change. Unless it’s when I get money back from a purchase that I have made. Seriously, though, change can be hard for people and children especially. And especially when it has become a tradition filled with pleasant memories, good feelings and food (I do like food).  Molly Beth Griffin’s Just Us shows how when something changes, it can also be a good thing, just different. The narrator of the story is upset that the winter […]

Light and dark fantasy

Coral’s Reef volume one by David Lumsdon

Castle Swimmer volume one by Wendy Martin

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I do not know if the (online reader copy) Coral’s Reef volume one by David Lumsdon and Shiei was originally a webcomic, but I know Castle Swimmer volume one by Wendy Martin was. Why I say this is because the two books have some similarities and of course, differences. But they make me think of each other. I read Coral via an online reader copy as said, but read at least volume one on WebToons for Castle. However, it is now going to be in […]

I’m With the Mariachi Band

Adela’s Mariachi Band by Denise Vega

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I decided that when I got an email from Charlesbridge (a publisher) I would read some of the twelve online picture book reader copies included. I ended up reading ten (one had been previously read, so technically nine). I didn’t read two because the covers didn’t “speak to me” but I saved the links in case they someday would. One of the reads was Adela’s Mariachi Band. Due in mid-August, this story by Denise Vega and illustrated by Erika Rodriguez Medina was not what I […]

The stories of two young men

Hands by Torrey Maldonado

Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes

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I needed a short read or two. I found two, while terribly short looking, books that also felt like they would have some “meat” to them. And those books were Hands by Torrey Maldonado and Garvey in the Dark by Nikki Grimes. I was familiar with Grimes, as they are the author of Garvey’s Choice and others I enjoyed reading. But Maldonado was new. Hands looked like it would be a boxing book. And it is, somewhat. But really what the book is about are […]



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