Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


I heard it’s quite a fan of growth music.

Music Plants Hope by Tonnye Fletcher and Natalia Bruno

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A concert for plants? That is probably about as unique as it gets. And if you want to learn about that statement, then read Music Plants Hope by Tonnye Fletcher and illustrated by Natalia Bruno. I read it via an online reader copy, as it is due late May/early June 2026. But I think I might find a copy to donate to the local library and maybe for a few gifts for teacher friends. The text itself was enjoyable as there was a poeticness to […]

Bad-a$$ gals

The Girl Who Changed Little League: The True Story of Maria Pepe and Her Battle to Play Ball. by Maria Pepe with Jean L. S. Patrick

Sparrow Loves Reptiles by Murry Burgess and Tamisha Anthony

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Girls are bad-a$$ in ways they might not know. And Maria Pepe did not really know it, she just knew she wanted to play Little League. But the powers that be said girls can’t play. Yet, Maria was not going to let herself be stopped. And Pepe with Jean L. S. Patrick showed how this could be done in The Girl Who Changed Little League: The True Story of Maria Pepe and Her Battle to Play Ball. The story is simple: Girl loves baseball. Girl […]

Sixty-six million years ago or Ya know the other day

One Cosmic Rock: The Story of the Asteroid that Changed Our World by Julia Vasileva

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Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid hurtled through space toward an ancient Earth that looked very different from the one we know today. And in One Cosmic Rock: The Story of the Asteroid that Changed Our World by Karen Krossing we see how that came to be in poetic language for the picture book crowd.   Good for ages five and up, this book is a simple, but involved, non-fiction story that has interesting illustrations by Julia Vasileva. They are neither realistic or abstract, but a […]

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene don’t stop helping the bees, hunny!

Green Jolene and the Backyard Bees by Wendy Mass

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Green Jolene and the Backyard Bees is written by an author I have enjoyed reading over the years. This author is Wendy Mass. And while they have had a few different ages and have written a few different genres, their more realistic stories are fun. And when Mass collaborates with illustrator Billy Yong you get an interesting combination of realistic story, art and modern feelings. Yet, there is also a classical, family friendly feeling as well. This mixture works for today’s readers aged at least […]

Winter, spring, summer and fall, all ya gotta do is read the poems

Poems for Every Season by Bette Westera and David Colmer

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A while back I requested several picture books from an online reader site. One of them was Poems for Every Season by Bette Westera and David Colmer (translator). I was not sure what I would get. I mean I figured poems and seasons (and of course most likely poems about seasons), but I did not have super high expectations. I figured things would be good, but not great. Plus, I just did not want to be disappointed as I had been a lot before (and since) reading […]

Impact of books and other really cool things

The Blue Jays That Grew a Forest by Lynn Street

Little Monk Writes Rain by Hsu-Kung Liu

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As you know I enjoy reading picture books. They are not just for the “kid crowd” as I have found (and highly encourage others  to do so, too) many books that give me information about something or someone I was unfamiliar with. I also find poetry, poetic prose, silliness and much more. But sometimes I am unable to write a “full review” so I must combine them to make one larger review. I do try to “theme” them, and I hope I did with the […]



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