City & Town Life – Cannonball Read 17

Leif’s green thumb and big heart

Leif's Gift by Michael Wang

October 24, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Do you like plants? I like plants. Now, plants on the other hand, they probably don’t like me. I had problems keeping a cactus alive. Not to mention a few of my faux plants have seen better days. But I will read books about plants and people who like plants instead. Like in Leif’s Gift by Michael Wang and illustrated by Lenny Wen. Read via an online reader, this book due in June 2025 is one you will want to preorder now as it will become […]

A heck of an ol’ gal!

Big Bertha: How a Massive Tunnel Boring Machine Dug a Highway Under Seattle by Amanda Abler

October 11, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

History is not just the people on top of the Earth, but what we do below it as well. And Big Bertha: How a Massive Tunnel Boring Machine Dug a Highway Under Seattle does a fantastic job of showing us both. But especially below. When the earthquake hit, damages were numerous, and the city had to find a way to stop the highway from collapsing again. It would take several years to find a way, but between the different sciences and global assistance, the drill […]

Free Spirit Publishing has some neat books

Thank You, Night by Dan McCauley

Thank You, Rain by Dan McCauley

B Is for Belonging by Shannon Anderson

Hello, Beech Tree! by Rasha Hamid

August 2, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A while back I saw two online reader copies that had intriguing covers (or thumbnails of the cover as it was only a small image). I liked them, but figured I knew what they were about by judging the cover. Thank You, Night and Thank You, Rain looked like they would be nice father and child stories. One set at night and one set in/around a rainy day. And I was not wrong. (Yes, I read them eventually.) They had more to them than those […]

Bike’s First Day

A Big Day for Bike by Emily Jenkins

May 31, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I had planned on writing a review with all four of the bicycle books I liked from a recent article I found in one review. I did not think I could write enough for each book to have justice done for it. But with The Bicycle: How an Act of Kindness Changed a Young Refugee’s Life, I just got all excited over it. And even if that review (or any of the others here) does not make sense, just know READ THE DARN (only I’m […]

New chapter reader series

Seashell Key volume one by Lourdes Heuer

April 16, 2024 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Seashell Key is going to be a new series and volume one will be out by the end of April 2024. Lourdes Heuer and illustrator Lynnor Bontigao made three cute stories about six friends, a big shaggy doggy, a turtle and the fun (and slightly crazy) adventures they get into, the coconut water they drink and the mangos that have been eaten (by the turtle). As my copy was a physical reader’s copy, the artwork was incomplete, but notes do say that it will be […]

Plant a tree

The City Tree by Shira Boss

April 4, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

You ever see a tree in the city? Well as a girl who grew up around trees, had a swing tied to a tree, and got her cowboy boot stuck between two limbs once (don’t ask) I never thought much of it. That is until I went to the city and saw them. That looks odd and really out of place I thought. I mean what good is a tree in the city? Little did I know that the city needs trees, and The City […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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