Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Cannon-balling into one Octopus Garden (or something like that)

Cannonball! by Sacha Cotter

How to Put an Octopus to Bed by Sherri Duskey Rinker

Thank You, Garden by Liz Garton Scanlon

by Leave a Comment

When you need a picture book (or five) to get you out of your reading slump, you hope that one will WOW you. Sadly, I only felt, “That’s nice. But I am not going to be able to write 250 words on each.” Therefore, a collection of three of those picture books reviews! The cry of “Cannonball!” has been heard at the local pool or swimming hole for decades. This time, we hear it from a young child trying to learn how to do the […]

Talking about a murmuration

One Dark Bird by Liz Garton Scanlon

by Leave a Comment

Ever pick up a book and think, that it looks like an “X kind-of” book? I did with One Dark Bird by Liz Garton Scanlon. It looked like it would either be a book of one long poem or each page would have a mini-poem on it. It was neither. And both. This is mostly due to Fran Preston-Gannon’s cover illustration. This book just looks like a poetry book. There are bold, deep, rich colors. They are situated in such a way that they flow […]

The ups and downs of routine changes

by Leave a Comment

The team of Audrey Vernick, Liz Garton Scanlon and Chris Raschka probably had a substitute teacher or two during their school days. However, I wonder if they were as unsure of them as the narrator is of their substitute teacher in Dear Substitute. Finding out that their teacher is out unexpectantly (why did Mrs. Giordano not warn them?) all sorts of feelings pop up for one student. After all, Miss Pelly changes their routines, cannot pronounce some of the student’s names, she reads new books […]

Another Way to Climb a Tree

by Leave a Comment

Another almost perfect book, but again something is just not 100% perfect. I like the story: a little girl loves climbing trees: trees that others will not climb, trees others fall out of, all kinds of trees. But when she is sick, she must learn how to be creative so she can still climb the trees she misses and who miss her. Yet, something is missing. Perhaps I would have liked to see her interact with people more. Or perhaps have her not the only […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo