Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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When you’re awkward, even for a naked mole rat

Sweety by Andrea Zuill

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While the theme of Sweety (being yourself no matter how “odd” or “weird” you might seem to others) has been done before, this has a slightly different feeling to it. Andrea Zuill has made it slightly more modern in some ways, but also has kept a classic feeling as well.  The classic aspect of the story is Sweety has a large, traditional family and how she and her family interact. The fact that Sweety asks if “being herself” while looking for friends could be seen […]

We are small but mighty and that’s alrighty!

The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol

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People are going to just love The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol.  It is a message book with the message of teaching people not to be greedy and to learn how to be happy with what you have, but also how to be kind and share. There are cute and fun illustrations as you follow The Little Guys as they bully, take what is not theirs and be downright, all around, bad scoundrels. However, this story has been done before. There are no surprises. The […]

Paging Dr. Spencer Reed….. Your book isn’t so hot…but guess what?

Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belong, and Being Yourself by Matthew Gray Gubler

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While Rumple Buttercup: A Story of Bananas, Belong, and Being Yourself is about a subject that is usually aimed at kids (be yourself and you will find your friends because your weirdness is okay! And that is because we are all weird in our own special way), seems to be more adult based.  The story feels more mature than what this subject tends to be aimed out. And due to the fact, the size is not the traditional picture book size, but one of those […]

This review does not do this book justice. I should have written OMG THIS IS AMAZING a thousand and two times

Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson

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Twenty years ago, a book called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson came out. A book about a subject we still do not really talk about today. Speak told the story of Melinda, a freshman in high school, the night she was raped and the fall-out from that. Speak: The Graphic Novel keeps to the feel and message of the novel. I was surprised at what I remembered but things I had forgotten came back and rediscovered other things. I think it has been rearranged a […]

“I have to pee, let me be!”

Jacob’s Room to Choose by Sarah Hoffman

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Jacob’s Room to Choose is by the team of Jacob’s New Dress and is a needed book for the issue of non-conforming children and the public rest room. Sarah Hoffman, Ian Hoffman and Chris Case (illustrator) in Jacob’s New Dress tell the story of a young boy, Jacob, who is based on the Hoffman’s son. Jacob likes to dress in dresses and wants to go to school this way one day. With this new book, we are dealing with the issue that people might be […]

“You are only a prisoner when you surrender.” ― Tad Williams, Shadowplay

Letters to a Prisoner by Jacques Goldstyn

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Letters to a Prisoner created by Jacques Goldstyn and Angela Keenlyside is a wordless picture book. Normally, I would not review this type of book, but something tells me that this might be the format to recommend it. First, I will say that I did not like this book. I appreciate the message (Amenity International Write for Rights campaign is a worthy cause) but the way it was presented, without a single piece of story text (although there is some text when letters are finally […]



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