Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Great for the Holidays and Any Days

The House Without Lights: A glowing celebration of joy, warmth, and home by Reem Faruqi

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I don’t think I saw The House Without Lights: A glowing celebration of joy, warmth, and home by Reem Faruqi and illustrated by Nadia Alam on my online reading site. If I had, I didn’t remember seeing and/or saving it. But one day I had an email that said, “Here is a book we are promoting and we hope you consider reading it.” I said, “Why not?” and I found an online copy. That is not where this book journey ends though. I will be […]

Just a couple of moms and their talking cats

Urban Tails by Ilana Zeffren

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I first found Urban Tails by Ilana Zeffren as an online reader copy, though the book has been available since May 2022. I was having trouble reading it online due to the illustrations. The text bled into the images. The colors were dull and this made things feel unfinished overall. The story wasn’t engaging me. But there was something about it that made me want to read it. I knew there was something there. Perhaps it was because it was about Israel. Or because there […]

A Hanukkah Romance

The Dreidl Disaster by Stacey Agdern

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At this time of year, it can be easy to forget that there are holidays other than Christmas. I’m at best, an agnostic and I’ve had several Christmas centered romances on my kindle without trying. No shade to those books, I liked them. But I did reach out to Stacey Agdern and ask if I could get an arc of her forthcoming Hanukkah romance, The Dreidel Disaster. I enjoyed it. It’s a romance for grownups, in a responding to problems way, not in a sexy […]

Love, Kindness, Danger

The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival by Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout and Sammy Savos

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“There are very few survivors left, and I want the world to know that there was a Holocaust” The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival is a short graphic novel, but has a lot packed in. Estelle Nadel, Bethany Strout and Sammy Savos created an informative, quick story about how one girl survived during wartime, a girl who was lost and how she found her voice when all seemed to be the end of the world.  There are uncomplicated illustrations supporting […]

Told in English and Chinese

Grandpa’s Magic Mask: A Story of Growth and Bravery in English and Chinese by Siping Wu

A House Just for Mommy: A Bedtime Story Told in English and Chinese by Dayong Gan

The Boy, the Deer, and the King: A Legend Retold in English and Chinese by Xiaochun Tang

Little Malan’s Debut: A Story of Courage Told in English and Chinese by Lumin Qian

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I do not speak a second language. As an adult, I regret not working harder on that, but I take solace in the fact that there are bilingual books out there and I can read the English part and admire the second language. Usually this is French or Spanish, but I have noticed that Chinese is taking its place. I’m not sure if the Chinese in these four books is Mandarin or Cantonese, so please let me know if you know! All will be available […]

Bats and dragons and mysteries

Silverwing: The Graphic Novel by Kenneth Oppel and Christopher Steininger

Winter Turning: A Graphic Novel (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel) by Tui T Sutherland and Mike Holmes

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If you haven’t guessed, I like graphic novels. It wasn’t always that way, but they opened up to me unique experiences. I used to recommend them to my customers and had to overcome the “they are just comic books….” (sneering the whole time). No, they are much more (and besides, what’s wrong with a comic book? Your child is reading, right?) Anyway, I found a new graphic novel series and have almost finished an old one. Both of them are fantasy, but dig deep into […]



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