Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A great graphic novel series for kids! (And adults too!)

Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke

Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke

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Mighty Jack Jack is a normal teenage boy who would like to sleep in during the summer.  But he can’t, because he has to mind his sister, Maddy, who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum.  Their mother has started working a second job to pay the bills, because they are in dire financial straits.  At a flea market, a mysterious stranger offers them strange seeds. Maddy speaks, and tells Jack to buy them.  The price is the family car, which is not pleasing to […]

Dear Sweet Pea, Julie Murphy’s MG debut

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

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CBR11Bingo – Own Voices! Holy poop, this is my 52nd review! I’ve officially cannonballed! Not that I’ll stop playing now, though. I am a huge fan of Julie Murphy’s YA books, so when I saw the ARC for her middle grade debut was available at Book Expo, I knew I’d be snapping it up both for my pleasure reading and for my work on the RI Middle School Book Award Committee! While I’d usually save my off-committee summertime for “anything but children’s books”, I decided […]

Sometimes a trip takes a bad turn

The Secret of the Stone Frog by David Nytra

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Another selection from the library book sale, I initially picked this one up because it was in really good condition.  A hardcover graphic novel that was initially published in 2012, this copy is pristine.  I don’t know why it didn’t circulate enough to get weeded out of the collection, but perhaps the black and white illustrations were not enough to catch the eye of children browsing.  It seems that either bright colors or manga style art move the best, and this has neither of those. […]

Not all heroes wear capes, but some do!

Cape by Kate Hannigan

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I picked this up mainly for the cover.  It is bright and makes me think the story inside is going to be exciting.  And it is! Our story follows Josie O’Malley, an Irish-American (I think she’s an immigrant, but she might be first-generation.)  She spends her time working at a diner to help out with the household expenses, which is a big help since her father is fighting in WWII.  She is also trying to control her temper while trying to fight the injustices she […]

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 […]

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 […]



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