Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About BlackRaven

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I am a Professional Book Pusher. Reading is a passion, as is writing, bragging about nephews, and alligator wrestling. My first year participating was 2018. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: BlackRaven's Quick Questions interview.)

BlackRaven's Reviews:

Orphans and them

We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans and Clayton Cowles

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I have had We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans and Clayton Cowles as an online reader copy for a few months. I have had opportunities to read it, but for the most part I figured it would expire before I had a chance to. Thankfully I was able to find it and read it at lunch today. It was an interesting experience. This graphic novel is an on book. We know the dystopian aspects (a girl wakes up one morning to find […]

Friends and differences

Don't Invite a Bear Inside for Hanukkah by Karen Rostoker-Gruber

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Don’t Invite a Bear Inside for Hanukkah by Karen Rostoker-Gruber and illustrated by Carles Arbat was exactly what I expected it to be. With that said, it is cute, funny and shows the values of the season. I wish I had found it before today (the first day of Hanukah), but it will work for the other days of the celebration, and for next year as well. We have a young child decorating for the holiday. They see a bear outside and though the narrator […]

This review happened because around 20 years ago a grandmother gave her grandson a banana to eat….

Benny the Bananasaurus Rex by Sarabeth Holden and Emma Pedersen

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I am not sure when I found the magnet of a kid (it was at least a year or two ago), in a dinosaur suit and eating bananas, on my desk. The coworker who left it said it reminded her of me. I wasn’t insulted, I knew she meant it as a compliment, but she did clarify it was a good thing. I also felt it was perfect for me as my middle nephew used to (maybe still does, he hasn’t said) love bananas (and […]

Surviving middle school is hard

Just Beyond #1 The Scare School by R.L. Stine, Nichole Matthews and Kelly Matthews

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R.L. Stine, Nichole Matthews and Kelly Matthews adapted Just Beyond #1 The Scare School into a graphic novel format. Or I am assuming it was a novel first, then a graphic novel. However, regardless of which came first (or didn’t come out) this is an old school RL Stine story. The theme is classic: We start with a couple of kids in “unusual clothing” (cue the “not from our world”) and how they are being chased by a robotic monster. We then see who lives […]

The crazy is coming!

The Shindig Is Coming! by Charise Mericle Harper

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The Shindig Is Coming! in August of 2025. Charise Mericle Harper’s book was read by me via an online reader copy. I probably will not purchase a final copy, but I know that it will be a hit with others and they will want to have copies for themselves and as gifts. When Mouse comes running in yelling, “The shindig is coming!” It causes all sorts of havoc. Nobody knows what or who it is. It could be a green swamp monster or a pink, […]

I’m not the audience, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be

Pi Squad Mysteries #1  Sabotage at Casa Grande Springs by DD Sterner

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There are few books that I read a page or two and feel like I cannot go on. I usually say, okay, it’s slow right now, but it’ll pick up, and it does.  However, Pi Squad Mysteries #1  Sabotage at Casa Grande Springs by DD Sterner (cover design by Alyssa Tora Aman) was not one of  those books. However (again), I kept reading. And my eight or nine year old brain said, “You would have enjoyed this as a kid.”  Just not your adult self. […]



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