Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Bookwork and the Rugby player

Brielle and Bear: Volume 1: (A Graphic Novel) (Once Upon a Time University) by Salomey Doku

by Leave a Comment

Maybe Brielle and Bear: Volume 1: (A Graphic Novel) (Once Upon a Time University) is not a pure 4, but it is a silly, fun, “meet cute” romance that has a bit of potential to be a smidgen darker and that potential gives it a slight boost over. Based on Beauty and the Beast (Brielle=Belle; Bear=Beast), this fairy tale follows the (so far) 10 rules of fairy tales. All the elements of falling in love, learning about each other and more are wrapped up in […]

The man, the woman and their influences on books

Outside In and Inside Out: A Story About Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner

Fanny's Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born by Richard Michelson and Alyssa Russell

by Leave a Comment

For the longest time, biographies were the only non-fiction reading I did. I would  explore that genre more as I got older, but I always hold a spot in my heart and read piles for biographies. And picture book biographies have become a staple to read. Two that grabbed my attention and made me need to talk about them were Outside In and Inside Out: A Story About Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner and Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born by Richard […]

The Stake of love

Bloody Mary by Nick Winn

by Leave a Comment

Silver Sprocket publishers had a sale. I looked up titles, found a few I wanted, and signed up for their monthly subscription for books. One of the books that came out of that mish-mash was called Bloody Mary by Nick Winn. It is a smidgen longer than a usual Zine, but it is more zine than what I consider a full-on graphic novel.  The first issue I had with it was that there are several moments where I felt like I started in the middle […]

Not your Grandma’s Brazil. Your Great-Great-Grandma’s, Maybe.

Dom Casmurro by Machado De Assis

by Leave a Comment

According to the blurb on the back of this Penguin paperback, de Assis was Brazil’s greatest novelist.  (To give you an idea of the timeline here, this was one of his last novels, and was written in 1899.)  Never heard of the guy.  To be fair, though, most of my background in Latin American authors was triggered by my high school Spanish classes, which would exclude this author.  The world of Portuguese language literature is far smaller than that of Spanish language literature.  Anyway! Dom […]

While looks easy, there is a lot packed it and not all of it is nice, but worth the read

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand and Tara Anand

by Leave a Comment

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand and Tara Anand has several potential triggers. They include (but are not limited to): self-harm, alcohol consumption, sexual context, suicidal thoughts, bullying, mental health, suicide attempt, and cultural situations/responses. Despite the issues, or maybe because of them, this is actually a fantastic story about how mental health is “hidden” even when it is right in front of you. The idea of being the “perfect Indian girl”, the idea of the “favorite son,” the idea of family and honor, and more, […]

Family, traditions, loss, home

Little Moons by Jen Storm and Ryan Howe

by Leave a Comment

I needed more than the sixty-odd pages in the graphic novel, Little Moons by Jen Storm and Ryan Howe. I needed to see more about the family, the relationships, the other women who have gone missing. I needed to see the community. I need to see what is being done to locate our character. And yet, that is the point. We do not always get that neat bow to tie the story up. There is no happy ever after for Chelsea and so many girls […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo