Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Pablo probably wishes he was the one stuffed in his locker

Monster Locker Volume 1 by Jorge Aguirre

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Currently available (but I read via an online reader copy), Monster Locker Volume 1 is a fun book that is a bit predictable for adults, but for at least 8 and up (more 10 to 13 perhaps) this is going to be a neat adventure. A mostly diverse cast of characters allows us to see a family following traditions but also forgetting its past. Then magic happens (cue a magic cell phone, a typical kid, and some ancient goddesses) and chaos happens. This is all […]

Finding home

Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Marina Julia

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Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Marina Julia was not what I expected. In many ways it was better, but also maybe not as strong as I had hoped. It was an interesting mixture of thoughts, feelings, actions and events. So much is going on, but nothing is ever really “perfectly” solved. Which is the point. There might not be a Happily Ever After, but you can get a Happy (Most of the Time) Together.  The artwork is simple, but full at the same time. The […]

“Don’t stop beginning. Begin and begin and begin. Begin endlessly—that is, without the taint of even eventual ending.”

All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess by Becca Rothfeld

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Literary critic Becca Rothfeld argues against the modern inclination toward minimalism, and insteads advocates embracing all the messy and irrepressible things that make the human existence so rewarding. I am this book’s target audience, because like Rothfeld I wonder if in the process of streamlining our world we have reached an unpleasantly bland and bloodless zeitgeist. I enjoy colorful and unusual clothes and furniture. I find the aesthetic of minimalism boring. I love the over the top pulp literature of yesteryears. I don’t want the […]

How blah can you be without hitting boring? Read on to find out.

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

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The tournament arc is one of my least favorite tropes in any kind of action driven story, be it fantasy or science fiction, in any medium not limited to but including manga, anime, cartoon, comic book, novel, series or stand alone. It always feels like filler, light on character or plot or much of anything, just a random series of conflicts that build up to the main one in which the world/universe/whatever as we know it is at stake. None of that is quite true […]

Spicy pancake celebrations

Gingerbread Dreidels by Jane Breskin Zalben

Attack of the Scones (Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast by Josh Funk

Spicy Spicy Hot! by Lenny Wen

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Who doesn’t love food? I mean most people at least like it or have at least one thing they like. And if you know me, I like books as well as food. So when I can combine the two likes it is always fun.  I will start with Gingerbread Dreidels by Jane Breskin Zalben with illustrations by Thai Phuong. Due late August 2024 (read via an online reader copy), this picture book shows how we can have a lot of celebrations in our lives, and […]

2024 is going to be a busy year

Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines by Rachell Abalos

I Am Both : A Vietnamese Refugee Story  by Kerisa Greene

Two Homes, One Heart  by Jessica Young

All About Color by Elizabeth Rusch

Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman—Writer, Historian, Environmentalist  by Shannon Hitchcock

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It is a picture book reviewing round up time! My theme is that of cultures. Of course we know the concept of “country and culture” but sometimes a culture can be something you do not immediately think of.  Yelena and Papa take care of their nipa hut and it takes care of them in Rachell Abalos’s picture book, Our Nipa Hut: A Story in the Philippines. Due in February 2024, I was lucky enough to have my book dealer send me a finished copy, as this is a book that needs […]



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