Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Ghostbusting doesn’t so much make them feel good as is absolutely necessary to fix a foolish mistake they made

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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Lucely (pronounced Lu-sell-i, at least by the audio book narrator) Luna may be living alone with her father (her mother left them when Lucely was little) but due to an unusual family legacy, she’s able to see the presence of all the family’s departed members. Her father, who once had the gift, can only see them as fireflies but accepts that they’re there and cooks massive meals to provide for all the extended members who keep Lucely company. The family spirits are all tied to […]

“Hope, because that is what we must give him, what we must give all of them. Hope and guidance and a place to call their own, a home where they can be who they are without fear of repercussion”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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It’s rare that I say everyone should read a particular book, but this is a book everyone, of all ages, should read.  TJ Klune has spun a beautiful story in The House in the Cerulean Sea.  It’s about finding one’s place in the world, learning to re-write the narrative others have placed on one’s self, that bigotry and fear can be overcome, and that acceptance can be found, starting sometimes as small as with one person to then slowly grow. Linus Baker is an investigator […]

“Friday was back to normal, if the actions of suspicious would-be heirs competing for a two-hundred-million-dollar prize could be considered normal.”

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

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This was so good! I’m so mad I didn’t read it as a kid. I mean, I’m an adult reading this for the first time, and even though I’m notoriously bad at figuring out mysteries, this was still quite the puzzle. It was just as well-constructed as an adult mystery, just with a different tone. And a main character called Turtle. What I liked best about this, besides the puzzle-like nature of it, was the human kindness it had at its core. It’s been since […]

“We’re not in Ghost Busters! This is real life!”

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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I did not read Ghost Squad when I was young, as it did not yet exist! This is a 2020 release, and I feel that I would have liked it very much when I in third/fourth grade. There’s magic, monsters, hijinks, and plenty of cat-content that would have kept me giddy throughout. I worried at first that this tale might be “heavy” for a middle-grade reader; it starts with some genuine adult anxieties and perils. We open with the financial woes of Lucely’s father- the bank is […]

In which I mostly fuss about things that I wanted to be better

Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab

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Given the premise of the Cassidy Blake series (girl with ghost hunter parents can see and gets into trouble with real ghosts), it should be no surprise that the next city to be the setting of an adventure would be New Orleans, LA, USA. Bridge of Souls is on the one hand, better than its immediate predecessor, but on the other, still has some of the same problems. I should say that I do in fact realize this is middle grade fiction, and thus it […]



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