Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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After School Times to Pass On

After School Hanako-kun by Aidalro

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After-School Hanako-kun feels a little like a bunch of pieces that might have been intended for the original main series but had to be cut for one reason or another. Several of the vignettes are probably supposed to be versions of standard high school manga/anime episodes like the beach day trip or main character catches a cold and has to stay out of things but is still somehow manages to be part of the story. In fairness, this collection is supposed to be a “behind […]

a perfect blast of nostalgia from the paranormal past…until the last 30 pages blows it all up

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

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A losing field hockey team is sweating themselves half to death. They are being pummeled by every other group on campus; a collection of high school teams from allover New England living the exciting existence of a pre-college summer program. They haul their broken bodies back to the dorms of the UNH campus, exhausted physically and spiritually. The goalie is DONE with this exhaustion. She wants, needs, and expects more for both herself and her beloved team. She, like many teen girls before and after, […]

Our Gal Harley is at it again.

DC Super Hero Girls V05: Out of the Bottle Graphic Novel. by Shea Fontana

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I was looking for something fun, light, and easy to read. And though I noticed awhile back that the last two times I took out books from the library I ended up in the ER, I decided to take a chance. I picked out five titles (with a sixth in case one was not available) and ended up with four. Good average and considering the one I am reading; I probably will not be getting through them all too soon. Therefore, I picked up first  […]

Teenage girls are so powerful

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

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In Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks, it’s 1989, and the middling Danvers High School Girls Varsity Field Hockey Team turns to witchcraft to help them make it to state finals (with the help of a possibly-haunted Emilio Estevez-covered notebook dubbed “Emilio” and the local lore of neighbouring Salem, Massachusetts). I just finished the book and I’m lying in bed awake with my heart feeling like it might burst out of my chest because – the absolutely nuclear power of teenage girls, man. Written in […]

Komi Can Communicate, But Only Just Barely

Komi Can't Communicate, vol. 10 by Tomohito Oda

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So, Komi Can’t Communicate is one of those things that makes use of a lot of stereotypes and still mostly manages to be entertaining. It’s volume ten of the manga, and Komi actually gets to take the lead in some social interaction and making a new friend without Tadano or anyone else. There’s also a side story about her younger brother who’s apparently pretty similar to Komi in that he struggles to use words with other people, getting away with it on the basis of […]

I’ve a soft spot for Teen Titans

Teen Titans: Beast Boy by Kami Garcia

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While I did not like Teen Titans: Beast Boy by Kami Garcia as much as the Teen Titans: Raven, I did enjoy learning about Gar and his transformation into Beast Boy. I would have to say the main reasons why I was not as big of a fan are that the transformation was too “quick” and he accepted it a little too easy (this of course is probably due to his jokey nature and able to go by the seat of his pants).  I did not […]



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