Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

One of my top recommendations right now!

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

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This is a Cinderella retelling focusing on one of the ugly stepsisters.  There is magic in this story, but also a lot of realism. We start with Isabelle, the younger of the stepsisters, getting ready to reluctantly cut off her toes to fit into the glass slipper.  Her older sister, Octavia, has already cut off her heel and was caught out, so now it’s Isabelle’s turn to try to secure their future. As expected, it doesn’t turn out well. The tale of Cinderella has a […]

A Joy to listen to!

Jukebox Joyride by Jacob Stein, Jason Rabinowitz

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This was an Audible Originals pick for I think June, and I’m glad I picked it up. George and Jules are 11-year-old twins, and they love music.  George plays the guitar and Jules plays the drums, and they’re pretty good musicians.  They’re also pretty good kids, as evidenced by their interactions with their absent-minded mom.  Their love of music comes from their Uncle Bob, who is a top-notch ethnomusicologist. But Uncle Bob has disappeared.  Not just, left for work one day and was never heard […]

Sometimes it feels like people try too hard

Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle by Laura Purdie Salas, Claudine Gevry

My Footprints by Bao Phi, Basia Tran

To Catch an Elephant by Vanessa Westgate

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Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle Laura Purdie Salas, Claudine Gevry The illustrations are really nice and bright!  The rhyming lines flow easily and work well with being read aloud.  It focuses on the three ways animals deal with winter – migrating, hibernating, and tolerating.  There are examples provided for each one, including some not usually covered in books about winter!  The end of the book has information in greater detail about the topics and animals covered, and there is a glossary for terms that may not be […]

More than I was expecting

The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner

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Wow.  This packed way more of a punch than I was expecting!  Moth is a 13 year-old girl growing up in a coastal town in Massachusetts.  She feels kind of out of place and doesn’t really have any friends, but she goes along with life anyway.  When learning about the witch hunts that took place in town in the late 1600’s, something strange happens to Moth.  Running home to tell her mother, she learns that she is from a family of witches! Moth wants to […]

A lovely middle grade fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

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#CBR11 Bingo: Far and Away (book set in fantasy version of historical China) Official book description: In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life’s questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask […]

So did you know Napoleon wrote romance novels early in his career?

Ambition and Desire: The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte by Kate Williams

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#CBR11 Bingo: True Story From Goodreads: Their love was legendary, their ambition flagrant and unashamed. Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife, Josephine, came to power during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of France. The story of the Corsican soldier’s incredible rise has been well documented. Now, in this spellbinding, luminous account, Kate Williams draws back the curtain on the woman who beguiled him: her humble origins, her exorbitant appetites, and the tragic turn of events that led to her undoing. Born Marie-Josèphe-Rose […]



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