Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Quirky, adorable mystery – perfect beach read.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

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This was a book that I voted for in our book club selections because of seeing it on several “Must Read” lists. I had no preconceived ideas about the plot, just knowing that others liked it. Fifteen year-old Bee is a typical teenager with a very untypical mother. Bernadette is outspoken, opinionated and is the definition of “marches to the beat of her own drum”. In a previous life she was an acclaimed architect, with designs that were revolutionary and award-winning. Now she is bordering […]

Getting your period really isn’t anything to be excited about, Margaret

Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

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#CBR11 Bingo: Banned/Challenged (has been on the list among the most banned/challenged books for several decades now) Margaret Simon, almost twelve, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she’s asked to join a secret club she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she’s normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for […]

Ms. Marvel continues to be delightful

Ms. Marvel, vol 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson

Ms. Marvel, vol 4: Last Days by G. Willow Wilson

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#CBR11 Bingo: Illustrated Ms. Marvel, vol 3: Crushed – 4 stars Kamala faces a new, terrifying threat: Excessive feelings! Love is in the air in Jersey City as Valentine’s Day arrives! Kamala Khan may not be allowed to go to the school dance, but Ms. Marvel is! Well sort of–by crashing it in an attempt to capture Asgard’s most annoying trickster! Yup, it’s a special Valentine’s Day story featuring Marvel’s favorite charlatan, Loki! And when a mysterious stranger arrives in Jersey City, Ms. Marvel must deal […]

This Must Be the Place

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

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Another Brooklyn is not a very long book, and I read it in a single sitting. Even as I was reading it I was looking forward to the next time I get to read it. It’s the story of August, who moves to Brooklyn in the 70s with her father and brother after her mother dies. She meets and befriends three other girls: Gigi, Sylvia, and Angela. The book starts with August’s return to Brooklyn as an adult when her father dies, where she runs […]

A lovely book with a beautiful cover

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

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4.5 stars Because tradition dicatates it, each year on a certain day, the council of elders in the Protectorate take an infant and leave it in the woods as a sacrifice to the witch. Bad things will happen to the settlement if they don’t (although no one is really clear what dire consequences there will be, because there has never been a time when they didn’t place a child in the woods). Normally, the grieving family whose child has been selected meekly go along with […]

“Maybe I still haven’t become me. I don’t know how you tell for sure when you finally have.”

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

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This is one of those books I can appreciate more intellectually than feel in my gut, though I think I’m going to chalk that up more to the style than anything else. I wasn’t in the mood for a slow, thoughtful, book that is more traditionally literary in style than I usually prefer. This book is LONG as well, almost 500 pages. Which is on the high end for contemporary YA. Aside from my own style preferences, I have no complaints. It’s a beautifully written […]



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