Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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A sudden sound of wings and screech sends our hero on an adventure of his life time

Orris and Timble: The Beginning by Kate DiCamillo

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Orris and Timble: The Beginning is pure Kate DiCamillo. Part Romeo and Juliet (enemies to friends), part the Lion and the Mouse (a rat saves an owl) and part a grandparent/grandchild relationship (even though there is a grumpy older rat and a young owl). This story is sweet, funny, and a little bit tense (after all, even if an owl says it is too scared to eat you, can you really believe it? Especially with those large and dangerous talons?). When Orris, the rat, hears […]

Of mice and soup

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

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Cbr14bingo Cozy “being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread” This charming Newberry Award winning story is about a heroic little mouse and the princess he loves. It’s also about the pitfalls of being an outsider and the power of forgiveness. Despereaux’s family marks him as different and doomed from the moment he is born. Too small, with ears too big and born with his eyes open (an ill omen), everything about the little mouse disappoints his parents […]

All For One and One for All…and a Baton Twirl to seal the deal

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

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I read Kate DiCamillo’s Three Rancheros series out of order. I read Louisiana’s Way Home a few years back and just finished Raymie Nightingale yesterday afternoon. You can read them out of sequence, but it helps a little to know what happened in Raymie’s world first. Because of this order of reading, I think Louisiana’s story was stronger. Maybe it was because I was introduced to her first, or maybe because I have heard Raymie’s story before: the father leaves his family for another woman. […]

Love is powerful and wonderful and ridiculous

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

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“Is it ridiculous for a very small, sickly, big-eared mouse to fall in love with a beautiful human princess named Pea? The answer is . . . yes. Of course it’s ridiculous. Love is ridiculous. But love is also wonderful. And powerful. And Despereaux’s love for the Princess Pea would prove, in time, to be all of these things: powerful, wonderful, and ridiculous.” With that sentence, this Newbery Medal winner won my heart. The Tale of Despereaux is a classic fairy tale with a knight […]

The name I can never spell right on the first try

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

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This was a book I was sure I had read, because I feel like it’s been around forever.  Nope! 2003. (Maybe I saw the movie in 2008?) It feels like an older book as well. So if the author was going for a classic feel, she got it!  There is the story, but sometimes the author asks questions of the reader, often with vocabulary. Good for reading with a group!   The book is set up in four sections.  In the first part, we meet […]

Louise is a brave, fearless, feathered chicken. Yes. Chicken.

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Louise wants adventure. So, she leaves her cozy home and journey out into the wide world. She finds pirates, sunken ships, ferocious lions, circus fun and one exotic land where her sister chickens are held captive!   Yes, chickens. Louise is a brave, fearless, feathered chicken.   Kate DiCamillo and Harry Bliss had teamed up before Good Rosie! with Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken. The great humor of DiCamillo’s text is paired with the signature humorous illustrations of Bliss. Our fearless Louise’s story is […]



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