Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Power and the Written Word

Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution that Made China Modern by Jing Tsu

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I once had a housemate who tried to teach me some simplified Chinese written characters (hanzi). Nothing too complex, just me 我, you 你, coffee 咖啡 and tea 茶, so on and so forth. But even with such an easy lesson, I realized that some connections were harder to make than others. I was able to match the the vocalization to the meaning: Wǒ is I/me. And I would see 我 written on the page and go ahead and think ‘yes, that’s I/me’. But that […]

My review became longer than the books combined!

Baby Play (Bilingual Portuguese & English) (Barefoot Bilinguals) by Skye Silver

Our World: England by Sumana Seeboruth

Barefoot Baby-Proof: Baby's First Words by Christiane Engel

Feelings & Firsts: Won’t Go! by Sumana Seeboruth

Feelings & Firsts: Not Tired! by Sumana Seeboruth

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Recently I received an envelope from Barefoot Press. (I might have cackled, “MINE! MINE! ALL MINE!” I get emotional when my book dealer comes through for me with a fix. And what a fix it was.) There were hardcovers, board books, paperbacks and one of which is an “indestructible paper not board-board books.” I wanted to read then, but decided working probably was more important. I went home, curled up on the couch and started with the board books. The first was Baby Play (Bilingual […]

I hit the 7th Cannonball with pun and fun

Deep Thoughts from a Shallow Grave: Epitaphs to Die For by Anthony Martignetti

The Man Who Didn't Like Animals by Deborah Underwood

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I like to read and I enjoy writing reviews. But sometimes a book is not able to produce a long review. There isn’t a lot to say, or if you do, there are more words in your review than the actual book. These below titles fall into that category as well as the category of sometimes you cannot find a theme to link books together in a review other than they don’t allow for longer reviews and they have nothing in common. And that is […]

So I fudged the category a bit… that’s words for ya!

A Chest Full of Words by Rebecca Gugger

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 Cbr16bingo Cult  As I said in another review, I am in the business (literally) of finding future publications. And though 2024 is only half over (WAIT? That much???) 2025 is just around the corner for us booksellers. And because of that, we get access to future print titles constantly. Recently I found several picture books that are going to make next year pretty darn fantastic bookwise. The below book was read via an online reader copy and is due March 2025. Also I am giving […]

June is Pride Month but these work any month!

Linus by Stuart Hausmann

Plátanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris

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June is Pride Month. I have been trying to catch up on some older titles, but there are a lot of new ones, too, so I just never seem to be able to. However, the other day I found two older ones called Linus written and illustrated by Stuart Hausmann and Plátanos Are Love by Alyssa Reynoso-Morris with illustrations by Mariyah Rahman. I was able to locate online reader copies, but both titles are currently out.  It was easy to see by page one how […]

A word by any other name would still be reindeer

Ánh's New Word: A Story about Learning a New Language by Hanh Bui

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I thought at first  that  Ánh’s New Word: A Story about Learning a New Language would be more about the learning of English as a second language than what it was. Now, yes, it is about learning English, but it is also about learning how to be brave, how to have the courage to try and the idea of family being there for you. Anh is a young child who moved to the US from Vietnam and is living in a relocation camp with her […]



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