Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Sometimes even your favorites can disappoint

The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and the New Girl by Gabriela Epstein (based on Ann M. Martin's novel)

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Claudia and the New Girl focuses (big shock) on Claudia, who is my favorite character in the series. A new girl, Ashley, joins Claudia’s class, and she’s also an artist! And she likes Claudia’s art and wants to be friends! Claudia gets swept up in the validation of having a friend share an interest and validate her work as something special. This leads to tension with her other friends and her not living up to her duties as vice-president of the Baby-Sitters Club. Friends falling […]

Ride ’em cowgirl… or whatever you say to someone who rides English style

Horse Trouble by Kristin Varner

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I do not care what “horse people” think of Horse Trouble by Kristin Varner as it is a delightful story about a young girl who is dealing with the stress of her life and the horses are really “second thoughts that are important to the overall story but shouldn’t be nitpicked about.” The amount of information and images of horses comes from someone with a “horse background” and therefore, I take their lead. What I absolutely adored about this book is the realistic mother and […]

Get your Dragon on

City of Dragons V01 The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis

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I read City of Dragons V01 The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis right after finishing Messy Roots. I was afraid that they would be too similar and ruin the experience of this second title. Thankfully, their differences made both a delightful reading experience. Now, Yogis does write for the younger crowd (at least 8-9 but probably more 10 to 14), but that older reader of Messy Roots could get lost in the excitement, magical, and even the silly adventures. In City of Dragons, we have […]

Love, exciting and new

The Loud House Special: Love Out Loud by Loud House Creative Team

Love is for Roaring by Mike Kerr

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This review has a love theme. First, we have the graphic novel The Loud House Special: Love Out Loud by the Loud House Creative Team and second, the picture book Love is for Roaring by Mike Kerr. With the Loud Family we see the Loud Family and the way love is represented: between husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, girlfriends and girlfriends, between siblings, between animals and their human and even between the youngest Loud child and her love of a certain large fuzzy “man.” […]

Mirror Mirror on the Wall I’ve Become My Mother Afterall

I Am Not Starfire by Mariko Tamaki

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I Am Not Starfire is a lighthearted coming of age/this girl isn’t like the other superhero story.  There are several obvious situations and solutions, but Mariko Tamaki’s text makes them fun and while not necessarily fresh, they are enjoyable to read. There are several characters who are diverse (due to race, sexuality, or personality). Of course, the story of the superhero Titan Starfire is multi-layered: she is the ultimate immigrant (she is not from this world), she is a single mom, and she is raising […]

Read me Seymour…. and Betty, and Moncia, and Fred, and Robbie, and George….

The Girl From the Sea by Molly Ostertag

Lilla the Accidental Witch by Eleanor Crewes

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I am combining the reviews for The Girl From the Sea by Molly Ostertag and Lilla the Accidental Witch by Eleanor Crewes because they have similar themes and I am not really sure I can do a 250 word count review for them as they are similar to many other titles I have reviewed here and would be repeating myself. Both books are about being yourself, learning to trust your friends and family and finally, coming out and into your own. But they are worth […]



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