Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Harry Potter and These Teachers Would Be Fired

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

by Leave a Comment

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars I started reading this book in an attempt to read all of the Harry Potter series with intention to look not only at the art of the writing but the message behind it all. What really stood out to me, instead, was the irresponsible, dangerous pedagogy at Hogwarts. Maybe starting out my twelfth year as a teacher, and the second year teaching during covid, really brought to light the pedagogy […]

Mum’s the Bird

Malorie by Josh Malerman

by 2 Comments

Malorie is the sequel to Bird Box, which I had the pleasure of reading/reviewing in January 2020. Spoiler Alert: Bird Box ends with the discovery of a seemingly successful safe haven, a school for the blind, which is reached by Malorie and her two six-year old children after a harrowing trip down a river, blind. This book continues her plight, instead this time it’s a blind train rather than a blind boat. But I’m skipping ahead. In the opening pages of Malorie, we learn that […]

The most bland doomsday ever

Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom: A Novel of Retropolis by Bradley W. Schneck

by Leave a Comment

Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom: A Novel of Retropolis feels somewhat familiar, even though I’ve never read one of these novels; I’m pretty sure given the series/setting name (Retropolis), that’s intentional. If you think about one of those 1940s-ish era sci-fi or “world of the future” images or stories, you’ve basically got this novel, both in terms of written content and visuals (there are occasional full and partial page illustrations. Everything looks and sounds (word and image again) vaguely cartoony, kind of familiar, and […]

A cloth mage, a journalist, and some bad guys walk into a bar (this does happen at one point)

Innate Magic by Shannon Fay

by Leave a Comment

Innate Magic is an alternate history dark fantasy set in 20th century London. “The War” and associated arms races have happened and there’s the threat of some new major conflict on the horizon; this is mostly background though. Paul Gallagher and his best friend/found brother Thomas Dawes have just graduated magic college ready to pursue careers as Cloth Magicians; it seems like there’s basically 2 types of allowed magic: cloth and book. The ‘innate magic’ of the title is technically only allowed to one person, […]

Just a lovely, insightful, nostalgic, and kind of sad read.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

by 1 Comment

When Earth slows its spinning, haphazardly adding extra minutes to the day , Julia and her family (along with the rest of the world) don’t really notice. Not straight away. But in the weeks and months that follow, Julia’s world will kind of turn upside down. This is partially due to the strangeness of the situation, and also because Julia will soon become a teenager – a turbulent period at the best of times. Decisions need to be made that will allow for some predictability […]

Animorphs Assemble!

Animorphs Graphic Novel Book One: The Invasion by K. A. Applegate & Michael Grant

by 1 Comment

I could write a thesis on the importance and relevance of the Animorphs series for tweens, but it’s been done better many times by others. I read this series in primary school and continued throughout high school, until it was pointed out to me rather harshly that I was ‘too old’ to still be reading the series… So here I am, mid-thirties, thumbing my nose to that judgment and gleefully re-reading the beloved series, this time in graphic novel form. Part of me was curious […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo