Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Botany, Bears and Beaver Ponds

Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey

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This is a lovely, sad, beautifully written book. I feel bad for everyone who rated it one star on Goodreads just because it wasn’t a faithful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Because if you read it for what it is, instead of what it isn’t, it’s really quite wonderful. Ivey touches on themes of motherhood, love, personal freedom, mental health and the natural world, all in a dark fairy tale setting. Single mom Birdie does the best that she can for her daughter, Emaleen, […]

Salmon Running and Snow Falling

Salmon Run: An epic journey to the ocean and back by Annie Chen

Snowfall by Sun-jung Park

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Picture books are a fun way to read books. You finished reading something, feel accomplish and can binge without really taking a lot of time out of your day. Take an hour and you can have half a dozen or more reads under your belt depending on the size of them. Two books that would be a good hour read are the two below. The first is a bit on the longer side and paced so you do want to take your time. The second […]

Coming to a Bookstore Near You

Prickles and Prides by Wendy Barron

Hooray for My Brain! by Paul Meisel

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I am not always a science person, but when I find one that I like, it sticks with me and is usually a children’s book. Two such books are reviewed below. One is about animals in both fiction illustrations and factual humor and the other is about the nature of the human brain for younger readers. Both were read via online reader copies and the first is due early April 2026 and the second later in the month.. As much as I enjoyed Prickles and […]

When you are interested in one book by the author, but find this one instead

A Perfect Spot by Isabelle Simler and Vineet Lal

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A Perfect Spot by Isabelle Simler and Vineet Lal (translator) is a poetic and informative look at how a ladybug lays their eggs in a seemingly quiet world, yet it is one that is a lot busier than one might think. The extras at the end allow the story to grow with the child. That is pretty much it. The facts are easy to understand and  learn. There is not a lot to it in the way of an action story. The action is simple: […]

They made me happy

Tiny Garden: A Picture Book by Deborah Underwood

Baba Palooza: A Picture Book by A. D. Ghani

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Lunch one day was a slightly cold Caesar chicken wrap. Why? I mean I purchased it warm. Well, I thought I had lost my credit card. And after three really bad days, that would have been the brown icing (if ya know what I mean) on the cake. Therefore, I tore my purse apart. That took longer than expected as I have used said bag to be a catchall for things recently (several pens, a coffin shaped sticky note pad, tiny 3D Mickey Moused eared […]

Natural curiosity made her the first

Foote Was First!: How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change by Jen Bryant and Amy June Bates

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While a bit more academic than many picture book biographies, Foote Was First!: How One Curious Woman Connected Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change by Jen Bryant and Amy June Bates (illustrator), is well written and illustrated, presenting highlighted events in the life of Eunice Foote.  That is a simplified (and not exactly grammatically correct) description of the book. I can’t really say a lot about the book other than it is oddly simpler with the illustrations and yet there is a complexity to them. The […]



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