Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Buck some stereotypes and be you

My Guncle and Me by Jonathan Merritt

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I saw the title on my online reader list (though it is available), My Guncle and Me. Okay, (I thought) another gay uncle story. Cool. There are a few for kids, usually the uncle is pretty flamboyant, and that’s the moral of the story (it’s okay to be you), but let’s see if this is different. And, it is. Yes, the uncle is still flamboyant (not “as flamboyant” as say the drag queen uncle in the book, Auntie Uncle: Drag Queen Hero by Ellie Royce […]

Fun with haiku

A Pond, a Poet, and Three Pests by Caroline Adderson

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I found myself on an online picture book reading frenzy awhile back. I read (or wanted to read, or have read previous) several books by this one publisher, Groundwood Books. One of those books was A Pond, a Poet, and Three Pests by Caroline Adderson and illustrated by Lauren Tamaki. This book is an artistic imagining of how a famous poet wrote one of his most famous haikus. In simple, but far from simple text, there is an actually in depth story about the Japanese […]

What would you do for your sister?

A Friend for Lucy by Jen-Ai Elena Molineaux

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When I started to write this review, I had eaten too much sugar. I was on a bit of a sugar-high-buzz that was making me a bit too “up” and slightly feeling off. So, I was nervous this book would be too sweetly reviewed or I would maybe dwell too much on how sweet it was. After all, A Friend for Lucy by Jen-Ai Elena Molineaux is a sweet book. It is also a clever story of friendship between different generations and how family can […]

They adorably find you when you need them

Adorable Empire: A Graphic Novel by Laura Terry

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Adorable Empire: A Graphic Novel by Laura Terry is a nice solid 3. The story is not new (magical animals, being yourself, divorce, complicated family and friends relationships), but it is nice (I will repeat this word) and has a few points that keep it new for someone who has read a lot of this theme, but also does not deter a newbie to the flock of coming of age books. There are nice illustrations that are not WOW, but not blah either. Overall, it […]

To those of us who get the hiccups

A Cure for the Hiccups by Jennifer E. Smith

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I love that the author’s dedication is to the person who eats raw carrots and gets the hiccups afterwards. I thought  I was the only one that happened to.  So, this proves books help represent all of us in our times of need! And, oh, yeah, it also really helps if you have the hiccups, too.  This is a book that is fun, funny, clever, and deals with more than just  the hiccups. Seriously, A Cure for the Hiccups by Jennifer E. Smith and illustrated […]

Mom’s ups and downs

My Mom Is Like a Kite by Lisl H. Detlefsen

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While mental health issue stories are not new, even in children’s books, Lisl H. Detlefsen makes a fresh and creative work in My Mom Is Like a Kite. I assumed that the Mom in question would probably have highs and lows, but I did not expect them to be as serious as they are. I assumed this would be a lighthearted story about feelings, one that says even adults are happy, sad, scared, etc. You know, real emotions. This is partly because Nathalie Dion’s illustrations […]



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