Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Cute in a not eat your face way

Fly by Night by Tara O’Connor.

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Thanks to my holiday book exchange, I had a chance to pick up Fly by Night by Tara O’Connor.  I had started a sampler awhile back and thought it would be slightly on the slower side, but still it was a fascinating concept. Twin sisters, one who has gone missing, and spooky felt right.  And yes, it was not super-fast pace, but kept things moving. The idea of true supernature never came into play for those few pages, but it quickly does once you get […]

Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

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I read this book earlier this year as I sat by a lake in northern North Dakota. Now it is gray and chilly here in Memphis, but I still have the flavor of reading Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, in my mind – sun setting late, a few leisurely boats motoring by, and a hummingbird hitting the nectar for the last time. Seraphina is a ungainly young woman living in the kingdom of Goredd. She has a knack for music and mathematics and lurking at the […]

Sisters might point things out that others are too polite to mention, but I wanna point out some good books

What Are Sisters For? by Anya Glazer

How to Hug a Pufferfish by Ellie Peterson

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There is no theme to connect What Are Sisters For? And How to Hug a Pufferfish, other than both are fun new books to get for your collection. Anya Glazer illustrated and wrote What Are Sisters For? I personally would say: to blame for things that you did; trade for chocolate cookies; and cut the fuzz out of your favorite koala bears ears (not really a plus, though). And speaking of koalas, we have two koala sisters, Ada and Bea. Ada the older, always has […]

For those who question and have big feelings

Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty

Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival

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The Questioneers and Big Bright Feelings series are a set of books dealing with social themes, such as confidence, being different, trying and failing, fears, lack of friendships all set for the (strong) four and up crowd. Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts on illustrations, and Tom Percival doing double duty with Meesha Makes Friends continue the themes. Beaty and Roberts use bold, bright, busy text and colors in Aaron Slater, Illustrator. The rhymes and fantastic illustrations (that are brassy, sassy, and […]

You’ll be smarter than a cookie

The Smart Cookie (Food Group) by Jory John

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The Smart Cookie (Food Group) by Jory John is not my favorite of the Food Books they and Pete Oswald created. With that said, there is nothing wrong with this picture book, I just feel that like, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series, we have gone to the bakery one too many times. Yet, the story of being yourself, and finding your own way of being creative or clever, is nicely illustrated by Oswald’s fun, silly, colorful, detailed illustrations. The cover tells you […]

Little book, big story

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

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Triggers with experiencing violence event are explored in The Golden Hour. This is a sweet look at the difficulties one boy faces with anxiety, depression, and his PTSD after witnessing gun violence involving a teacher at school. Through therapy, grounding techniques and new friends Manuel starts healing. I know it seems odd that it is sweet, but Niki Smith tastefully shows you the journey Manuel takes. Smith brings in elements of Manuel coming from a single parent home. They show you a bit of his […]



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