Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

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

Balloon by Bruce Handy and Julie Kwon

by Leave a Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

Gift this book

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

by Leave a Comment

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 […]

When did Frenemies become a word?

Dragon vs. Unicorn: Friends or Frenemies? by P.J. Hoover and Lisa Wiley

by Leave a Comment

Dragon vs. Unicorn: Friends or Frenemies? by P.J. Hoover and Lisa Wiley (illustrator) might be, if not the first, one of the first or few Choose Your Own Adventures books I have read via an online reader (though it is currently available).  Online reading of a CYOA is not an easy task, unlike this book which is a quick read for the adult and a decent read for the at least five and up (around a young nine) crowd.  Unicorn and Dragon are two friends […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo