Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Too many elements at once

Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries

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Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries is in one word, odd. But not in the usual sense of things. The story is straightforward: a person is coming to terms with the changes in their lives, the fact they are not like their siblings as they are the “normal one” (ie: does not have powers) and is trying to deal with headache and heartaches. But there are several places where things fall short of being “smooth” and go into the odd. First, the pages are crowded. […]

I recommend BINGO and this book

The Last Time We Spoke: A Story of Loss by Jesse Mechanic

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cbr17bingo Rec’d: Grief stories are not new, but each is unique to that person. The main thing I came away with from reading The Last Time We Spoke: A Story of Loss, is that the author (Jesse Mechanic) is human: selfish, loving, scared, fearless, angry and hopeful. They are both a reliable and unreliable narrator as they are telling the story from their eyes and over a 20 year period. The art is tone setting and allows us a peek into the mind of someone […]

The grandfather, the boy, the guitar and the song

The One About the Blackbird by Melanie Florence

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Bring the tissues when you read The One About the Blackbird by Melanie Florence and illustrator Matt James (read via an online reader copy, due later October 2025). This is a bittersweet story of the love of a grandson and grandfather and how the tables turn as time goes by, but music always pulls them together. The story is about how a young boy is always surrounded by music. One night he tells his grandfather he, too, wants to make music like his favorite song […]

Get A LOT of boxes of tissues

Yumi and Monster by Kam Redlawsk

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Get your boxes of tissues and then you can read Yumi and Monster by Kam Redlawsk. Due in September 2025 I read this via an online reader copy. And while I am curious how the finished copy will look, I am not sure I can read this bittersweet picture book. Yumi is a little girl who loves to play, but both her parents and the doctors say that will change. One day she is given a cane to help her walk (only we don’t hear […]

Our Universe

Sophie Shares the Stars by Heather Smith and Catherine Petit

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Sophie Shares the Stars by Heather Smith and Catherine Petit is an interesting book due to the different layers it has. First, it is an adoption story. Sophie has lived with “”My Michael” since she was three. And this is why she calls him what she does and his mother “Our Julia.” But the second level is he is a “real” parent as he does the things all good parents do, takes care of her when she is sick, helps her clean up messes, and […]

Thyme travels

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

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As an adult, I found a few areas in Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin that were not “smooth” for me, however, from ages 10 to 14 I would have enjoyed it. You are there with our narrator Thyme (like the clock, with a HY). You worry about fitting in at your new school, you worry about your siblings and your relationships with them, you worry about your old friendships, you are sad and happy, you try to balance your “now and then” and along the […]



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