Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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One Sweet Song by Jyoti Rajan Gopal

American Desi by Jyoti Rajan Gopal

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CBR15Passport author   The funny thing is, “sweet” does not always do it for me (unless it is a donut or chocolate). However, once in awhile a book that is sweet gets me in the feels. That is because it is sweet but not overly, sickening sweet (like three York peppermint patties and a mug of hot chocolate). And One Sweet Song falls in the former sweet category. Rhyming text takes us through a neighborhood when one person, while sitting on a balcony, plays a […]

They lobster the kelpcakes

Officer Clawsome V01 Kelpcake Crisis!   by Brain Smitty Smith

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CBR15Passport  already own  As the description says of this Brain Smitty Smith graphic novel, Officer Clawsome: Kelpcake Crisis!  this is Dogman meets Spongebob. And if you like them, you will like this. There is a bit of “James Bond-like” elements with a few villains (there is a mechanical shark that has one heck of a bad diet…I mean eating garbage is one thing, but whole buildings?), but overall, everything is straight forward and not overly “sophisticated.” Then again, a talking lobster who is a former […]

Brains, not just for zombies anymore

Battle of the Brains: The Science Behind Animal Minds by Jocelyn Rish

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CBR15Passport already own   Do you want fun facts about brains? And about animal minds in particular? Then you need the picture book by Jocelyn Rish and David Creighton-Pester that is called, Battle of the Brains: The Science Behind Animal Minds. And while it could have used some more humor (though brains are hard to be funny about, since they are seriously interesting), it still has some funny moment and is an interesting book to read. We follow a handful of different animas (from a […]

“Mesmerizing illustrations combine with poetic text”— School Library Journal

Ancient Night by David Bowels

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CBR15Passport New Author Two Nahuatl traditions are given a new twist in Ancient Night. But I was not aware of that until after finishing it.  I was assuming when I picked up this picture book (and that was because the cover was intriguing) it would be an adaptation of a folk tale, but not which people. And I came away with thinking, “Oh, well, that’s nice. Different. Do I like it?” This is not a onetime read or a book to read quickly. I did […]

Not My Flavor

The Flanders Road by Claude Simon

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CBR15Passport Flanders OK, let me just put this out there. Unconstructed prose is not my jam. Page after page with no structure, no punctuation, no paragraphs, OK, no. Looking at you James Joyce. Dubliners? Love. Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man? Well OK. Finnigan’s Wake? OK, now we having issues. Ulysses? Oooohhh no. So I feel guilty about not giving this a better rating because it is not my cup of tea, but I suspect it is well written. Generally when I give […]

“A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it.”

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

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A librarian friend, whom I usually agree about books with, has been singing the praises of William Kent Krueger for quite a while now. Last year, based upon her recommendation I read his book The Tender Land, and didn’t much care for it. But since she has been relentless, I decided to give him another chance and read Ordinary Grace. So glad I did, as I really liked this one. The story is set in 1961 in a small town in Minnesota.  Thirteen year old Frank […]



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