Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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2024 is going to be a busy year

Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines by Rachell Abalos

I Am Both : A Vietnamese Refugee Story  by Kerisa Greene

Two Homes, One Heart  by Jessica Young

All About Color by Elizabeth Rusch

Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman—Writer, Historian, Environmentalist  by Shannon Hitchcock

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It is a picture book reviewing round up time! My theme is that of cultures. Of course we know the concept of “country and culture” but sometimes a culture can be something you do not immediately think of.  Yelena and Papa take care of their nipa hut and it takes care of them in Rachell Abalos’s picture book, Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines. Due in February 2024, I was lucky enough to have my book dealer send me a finished copy, as this is a book that needs […]

May I Take Your Coat?

The North Wind and the Sun by Philip C. Stead

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Though the story within the pages of The North Wind and the Sun is one of “you get more bees with honey than vinegar” (I don’t like flies) is not new, but the way the author presents things takes on a fresh feeling. The art is child-like but far from childish. Perhaps more for an adult than the usual picture book crowd, this is a delightful book for anyone’s library. Philip C. Stead has adapted (or retold) a folk tale that I am unfamiliar with. Perhaps […]

Three biography reviews all in one place for your reading pleasure!

Dressing UP the Stars: The Story of Movie Costume Designer Edith Head by Jeanne Walker Harvey

Jose Feeds the World: How a famous chef feeds millions of people in need around the world by David Unger

The Snow Man: A True Story by Jonah Winter

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I like biographies. Mostly because you have to be pretty much into the subject to write about people. Granted, not all the time (you might be a contracted writer for a series) but when you have someone like Edith Head, the odds are you are a fan. Otherwise why would you write something about a person that famous, but not very “mainstream?” Oh sure, we know a little about her from the Disney The Incredibles movies, but that is nothing like the real woman. And […]

The forecast is clear

Zeke the Weather Geek: There’s a Lizard in my Blizzard by Joan Axelrod-Contrada and Ann Malaspina

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CBR15Passport Different genres (science fact and fiction mixed) I am not sure if I liked Zeke the Weather Geek: There’s a Lizard in my Blizzard. I know I did not dislike it, but like? You see this is a fun story about weather, friendship and doing your best. It has some illustrations and modern touches. There are also a few “old school” parts that make it cozy and familiar, plus a bit on the fresher side. But there was nothing in Joan Axelrod-Contrada and Ann […]

Wear ya boots

Farm Boots by Lisl H. Detlefsen

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If you have a shoe feetish, I mean fetish, then this is the boots for …. I mean book for you. Okay, Farm Boots by Lisl H. Detlefsen is not an adult book, but it does have some really cute boots for the characters to wear in this rhyming book.  Each person has a specific boot for a specific job and for lots of play. Here we see boots for mud, boots for puddles, boots for riding and boots for mucking out the stalls (make […]

Nerdy lesbian romance

How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow

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How to Excavate a Heart is a book that hit so many good and familiar notes for me. Shani has just finished her first semester at college where she also got her first girlfriend, who broke up with her just before the start of winter break. Luckily Shani got accepted to an internship that the Smithsonian museum of natural history where she’ll work under her idol on coelacanth fossils, giving her distance from home and something to put her focus towards that isn’t her broken […]



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