Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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One thread to connect them all

One Red Thread: A Story of Connection by Lindsay Ward

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One Red Thread: A Story of Connection by Lindsay Ward (author and illustration, read via an online reader copy, due September 2026) has everything I dislike about a book. It is too sweet, too cute, too happy-joy-joy, too kumbaya-yah. And yet, while it was too much for me, I think this book has great potential for all ages, including adults. And, for some reason, despite my dislikes I really liked this book.  The illustrations are cute, simple but are not lacking. I like how the […]

Some cheer

The Old Sleigh by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey

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As another companion to the stories The Old Truck and The Old Boat, (which I do not believe I have read) the book The Old Sleigh is added to the clever creators Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey stories. A horse-drawn sleigh against a snowy background is loaded with the firewood a boy and father cut and deliver to a small village. As the village grows and the sleigh starts to fall about as it ages, we see how the changes happen and though things have […]

Beloved rain boots and a lesson

Green Jolene: Green Jolene and the Neighborhood Swap (Disney Planet Possible) by Wendy Mass and Billy Yong

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Reader copies come and they go, and one that came into my life was Green Jolene: Green Jolene and the Neighborhood Swap (Disney Planet Possible) by Wendy Mass and illustrator Billy Yong. Currently available, I plan on finding a copy as I need to see the final images. This is a short story that mixes a bit Junie B. Jones, Eloise, and a lot of modern sentiments to get this generation’s spunky bossy pants who loves her friends, family, dog and saving the world. Jolene […]

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 […]

Thyme travels

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

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As an adult, I found a few areas in Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin that were not “smooth” for me, however, from ages 10 to 14 I would have enjoyed it. You are there with our narrator Thyme (like the clock, with a HY). You worry about fitting in at your new school, you worry about your siblings and your relationships with them, you worry about your old friendships, you are sad and happy, you try to balance your “now and then” and along the […]

Not That I Could Tell: Nosy and Nefarious Neighbors

Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

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A woman is missing. Not just a woman, but a woman and her twins. Out of a beautiful, safe neighborhood in Yellow Springs, Ohio – home to Dave Chappelle.  She went missing after having a girls’ night with some of the neighborhood ladies, and no one seems to know where she is. But everyone is interested in finding out: from the intrepid young reporter, publishing an independent neighborhood paper to the only single woman in the neighborhood with a fraught familial relationship to the stay-at-home […]



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