Concepts – Page 17 – Cannonball Read 17

Hello My name is Raven and I am a book sniffer

This Book of Mine: A Picture Book by Sarah Stewart

May 24, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

This Book of Mine: A Picture Book by wife and husband team Sarah Stewart (one heck of a writer) and David Small (one heck of an illustrator) is a poetic look at the things we do with books: read, enjoy, chew, learn, even smell them. WHAT? You have never smelled a book? And you call yourself a bibliophile! All kidding aside, I was not expecting a lot of out this short book. Mostly because my inner kid kicked in when I saw the title and I thought “This […]

Q: What did the quater say to the penny?

Spend It! (Moneybunny) by Cinders McLeod

May 13, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Spend It! is one in a series of books for kids learning about money. Along with Earn It! and Save It! (and possibly a future title Give It!) the reader finds out that money is not as straight forward as one might think. Cinders McLeod, in this book, talks about understanding your choices when it comes to money. Our bunny hero, Sonny, has three carrots, therefore, that means he can buy three things, right? Wrong! As he quickly learns. (Though you got to love that […]

A long time ago a man wrote music ….

Because by Mo Willems

March 27, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Because is one of those books, that when I was finished, I was out of breath and feeling slightly overwhelmed, but in a good way. I was afraid, as I am not a huge Mo Willems fan, that I was not going to enjoy this, but Because has a format that is unique, a story theme, while has been done before, has not be done in this exact way and some clever artwork. Mo Willems and Amber Ren created a story about how things are […]

26 ways to say Love

L Is for Love: A Heartfelt Alphabet by Greg Paprocki

January 23, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

L is for Love: A Heartfelt Alphabet is one of those odd little gems that looks like it is from 1950 but is very 2018. The illustrations show you the alphabet of love and friendship. The illustrations are casually modern. Nothing is forced, and things flow with the diversity of people (bi-racial copy, people of color). In fact, the P is for Poetry shows the girl reciting “How do I love thee?” (Or I assume she is…. She is kneeling, with paper in hand, boy […]

Mostly Likely you’ll love this book if you give it a try

Tomorrow Most Likely by Dave Eggers

January 9, 2019 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A coworker asked me if Tomorrow Most Likely was as cute as it is supposed to me. I said, “Weeeellll… My logic is taking over.” How do you explain that maybe you will not have met Cousin Todd today? Or the sky is not blue today? After all the text of Dave Eggers makes it seem like it will happen. But then I thought, that this is a good discussion book. He does say “most likely” and when you do not meet a squirrel named […]

Celebrate the sights, sounds, and smells of the season

October 31, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

After my review of A Parade of Elephants, I was a little nervous about reading Winter is Here. However, I was excited to see that while I am not seeing his classic illustrations there is a story here. Of course, I still think this would be better as a board book then a normal sized picture book but could see myself buying this for a gift. Laura Dronzek is the reason the classic illustrations of Kevin Henkes are not there as she is the illustrator […]

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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