Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


This will be one of my year-end favorites

Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, Boulet

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Bea Wolf is a graphic novel that re-imagines the classic epic poem Beowulf. I’ve reviewed Seamus Heaney’s award-winning translation of Beowulf as well as  Maria Dahvana Headley’s Beowulf-inspired novel The Mere Wife (an excellent read) but this Beowulf is a little different. And it is also outstanding! Bea Wolf is Beowulf for kids. It is clever and hilarious with incredibly good black and white drawings by Boulet. Much like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, kids could read this and get a good laugh out of it, […]

Gripping story of resilience

Hostage by Guy Delisle

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CBR15Passport books from different countries Hostage is the true story of Christophe Andre, a Frenchman working for Doctors Without Borders in Chechnya who was kidnapped and held for three months. Guy Delisle, a French illustrator and writer, interviewed Andre after his ordeal and turned the taped interviews into a gripping work of graphic biography.  In order to place things in context I had to read up a bit on the Chechen/Russian war of 1994-96. The events in this story take place after that conflict had […]

Subverting fairy tale tropes… and llamas!

Cursed Princess Club vol 1 by LambCat

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I’ve become a huge fan of webtoons/tapas/etc lately. So when I saw the amusing cover art, I couldn’t resist picking this up and I’m so glad I did. This is a silly and sweet graphic novel that gleefully subverts the usual fairy tale tropes. Gwen is the youngest daughter of the King of the Pastel Kingdom. Rather than a room full of cute forest animals or an enchanted garden like her older sisters, Gwen attracts a possum who keeps biting her head. She’s kind and […]

Now only the really tragic sections of the story are left

Sandman, Act III by Neil Gaiman and Dirk Maggs

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4.5 stars Act III of the full-cast audio adaptation of The Sandman was suddenly released with what felt like absolutely no fanfare or previous advertising. Suddenly, one day, it was just there on Audible. This installment covers the two collections Brief Lives and World’s End, as well as some of the stories collected in the anthology volume Fables and Reflections (the very first volume I ever read). It means we finally get the full and tragic story of Dream’s son Orpheus and his beloved Euridyce, […]

a recommendation from banned books discussion

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki

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Recommendation by teresaelectro! I think unlike many people, it took me a while to get into the artwork for this novel. On the other hand, I found the story quite compelling from the get go. As I went through it, though (and it’s a shorter graphic novel, so it did finish quite quickly), I found the artwork beautiful in its sparseness and details—and the story a bit lacking in nuance at the end. There’s not much of a plot per se, although plenty of spoilers that […]

“Monsters are easier to fight when you’ve got people on your side.”

Dungeons and Dragons: Dungeon Club: Roll Call by Molly Knox Ostertag and Xanthe Bouma

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I honestly don’t remember pre-ordering this, but I’m glad I did! The magic of a book showing up like a little unexpected gift in my mailbox never gets old. Dungeons and Dragons: Dungeon Club: Roll Call has an unwieldy title but is a sweet middle grade graphic novel about using D&D and the power of imagination to build friendships and overcome fears. Olivia and Jess are best friends who love playing D&D together, but when Olivia decides to start a D&D club at school and […]



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