Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Do they like Ray Charles, Elton John or Liberace?

The Elephant and the Piano by Colette Hiller

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As 2025 winds down, I am finding more online reader copies for 2026. And not just for January or February. No, I’ve seen as late as July 2026. Thankfully The Elephant and the Piano is an early one as it’s due in May 2026. Until then (when I will be finding finished copies for gifts and the library), I will just read Colette Hiller’s book online. This book is based on actual events (but takes some poetic license) of how one man decided to help […]

Kerbel and Lo Present: Animals

What About an Elephant?: A Fact-Filled Savanna Adventure by Deborah Kerbel

What About an Octopus?: A Fact-Filled Underwater Adventure by Deborah Kerbel

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I was looking through a recent email sent to me via a publisher. They were promoting a few new books and What About an Elephant?: A Fact-Filled Savanna Adventure by Deborah Kerbel and illustrated by Dawn Lo was one of them (it is due in mid-August 2025). There was a companion title, What About an Octopus?: A Fact-Filled Underwater Adventure also by Kerbel and Lo (but is currently available) advertised as well. I looked around and found online reader copies for both. While I was […]

Animal Book Round Up Time

The Knight Owl #2 Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher  Denise

The Boy and the Elephant by Freya Blackwood

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It is Animal Book Round Up Time! Both books were read via an online reader copy.  The Knight Owl #2 Knight Owl and Early Bird is the second Knight Owl book by Christopher  Denise. (Though you must wait until mid October 2024 for it to be available.) We now have a young early bird who wants to be a Knight Owl as well, but of course, things do not work out as well as they would have liked. After all they are not an owl, […]

“Maybe all I need is a purpose.”

Singing With Elephants by Margarita Engle

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11-year-old Oriol wants to go back to Cuba. Ever since her grandmother died, she’s felt lost at her Santa Barbara, CA home. School is difficult, her older sister has less time for her since she got a boyfriend, and the only place she is truly happy is helping her parents at their veterinarian clinic. This clinic is no ordinary vet: her parents are specialty vets, assisting with wild and unique animals. In a show-biz state like California, they have a lot of work. One day, […]

My sister the elephant

The Secret Elephant : Inspired By a True Story of Friendship by Ellan Rankin

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You have heard of Winnie The Pooh and Wojtek the Bear from Brothers In Arms but did you know about the elephant named Sheila? (Or Violet? As I’m finding conflicting accounts, yet I’m going with Sheila as that is what is in The Secret Elephant : Inspired By a True Story of Friendship by Ellan Rankin.) Despite the name difference, the story is one of heroism at another level. And maybe a little silliness. Our young elephant is by themselves, except for their zookeeper. The […]

Probably Should Have Just Stuck with Alice

The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux

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CBR15Passport India The Elephanta Suite is a collection of three tales, each describing the encounter of an Anglo with India.  The first story is that of a retired British couple who stay longer than they intended, the second is of a Bostonian businessman who become a Jain monk, and the third is of an American college student who falls in love with an elephant.  Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the first two.  The retired couple were self-centered, and treated the Indians with whom […]



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