Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


An education in who you are

The Airless Year by Adam P. Knave

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After reading The Airless Year I realized two things, first I had wanted to read it awhile back, but had forgotten about it; and second it was not what I expected. I was not sure what I thought this book was about, but not this. Adam P. Knave, Valentine Barker, and Frank Cvetkovic have created one of the first (if not only) books I have read where the parental units are not all “lovey dove we believe in you happy happy you’re a genius” towards […]

A little family road trip from and to Hell

Odessa by Jonathan Hill

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I stole this part of the review from Goodreads/François Vigneault: “Odessa is the first long chapter in a sumptuously-drawn post-apocalyptic tale following the journey of teenager Virginia Crane.” That does not seem “steal worthy” but it starts my feelings of this book. It is a long “chapter to the story of the Crane family. I am not sure I would say “sumptuously-drawn,” but it does have its own unique style.    This is the surface story: three children (ages around 9 to 17) travel through a post-apocalyptic world […]

Trying to find the Better Place

Better Place by Duane Murray

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I thought that the graphic novel, Better Place by Duane Murray was about a kid who played hockey. Maybe he would have some problems in school, some bully or something, but nothing overly serious or we had not seen before. But then we find that the mature theme of death is put into play and the child, Dylan (of cover fame), is not your average hockey player. In fact, hockey is far from what he does. He and his grandfather are not just two peas in the pod, […]

Old Hollywood Movie Magic Comes Alive, really!

Just Beyond: Monstrosity  by R. L. Stine

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Goosebumps meets Alfred Hitchcock meets the Scooby Gang meets family drama in Just Beyond: Monstrosity by R. L. Stine, Irene Flores and Joana Lafuente. This is a fun story of a brother and sister (Ruthie and Ezra Dillon) whose father and uncle have purchased an old horror movie studio. But strange occurrences are happening and the hauntings might be more than just movie magic. Split between the point of view of Now and the original 1950s studio (but mostly now) this is a cute, little spooky, graphic novel for […]

Getting your Glim on

The Girl and the Glim by India Swift

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The new girl in school has a problem: only she can see the “light creature alien” in this graphic novel called, The Girl and the Glim (or the light creature who is an alien). And this is on top of the fact as if she wasn’t weird enough to start with! She is small for her age and the bullies find all the puns available for that. Not to mention her parents are “shrinks.” But sometimes a girl and her Glim have gotta do what […]

And I thought my dad had some CRAZY recipes

Old Clothes for Dinner?! by Nathalie Alonso

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Magaly loves her grandmother (newly living with her family) from Cuba. She loves her grandmother’s Cuban dishes. She loves speaking Spanish with her grandmother. But when she asks her grandmother what is for dinner one day, she gets the answer of “ropa vieja.” Which she understands to mean (in her decent, but second language, Spanish) Old Clothes for Dinner?! And since she cannot find her favorite sweater, nor her brother his favorite striped shirt (loved and worn so much there are holes in them) well, […]



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