Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I appreciate the hard work that went into creating the book, though

Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston

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I had seen the cover of Cruel Illusions as an online reader copy ages back. I saved the link but never got around to reading it, and then the link expired. No big deal, I’d get to it eventually, and recently I requested it via an interlibrary loan. Well, I almost wish I hadn’t. The cover lied. To a point. It would have (at the end) the roses and the main character dressed like that, but that romanticism was pushed all until the end (except […]

Picture book round up part… I’ve lost count

The Mighty Pollinators by Helen Frost

Too Much!: An Overwhelming Day by Jolene Gutierrez

Steve Irwin by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegar

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Helen Frost will have a new pollen book at the end of March-early April 2024 called The Mighty Pollinators. No, this is not a book and/or graphic novel about a new DC or Marvel movie of superheroes, but it is a book about the critters, insects, buggies, and even the wind, and how they make your garden, flowers, and more, grow. This is all done with fairly shorter poems that allow for the facts to be presented, but also in a fun and quick manner. […]

Hello The Wilderness

The Wilderness by Steve McCarthy

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It is The Wilderness and our young character, Oktober Vasylenko, does not like it. The other siblings and his parents do, but he’d rather read about adventures. After all there are monsters, and bugs, and all sorts of stuff. Like The Wilderness itself. It is not a nice creature. Or is it? The father of Oktober tells him that sometimes he too is scared, but that is just what you feel, but bravery is what you do. And in an accident, Oktober is separated from […]

But who reads to the monsters?

I Will Read to You by Gideon Sterer

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When the publisher’s review of the book starts off with “A gentle blend of spooky and sweet” you pretty much have said the majority of what you need to know about the book. However, you also could say that in I Will Read to You Gideon Sterer has a young boy who wonders who reads to the monsters of the world. He has his mom to read to him, but who do they have? When the mom says no one, because they are monsters, our […]

Empowered by his faith

Salat in Secret by Jamilah Thompkins-Biegelow

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I was not sure what to expect from Salat in Secret. I figured it would be more of a story about a boy who is picked on, teased, even harassed, when he prays, so he then hides doing it. Instead, we start out in Jamilah Thompkins-Biegelow’s story with the narrator, Mouhammad, hiding his praying. He is now seven, and old enough to have his own Salat rug for prayers. But he wonders how people might react to him, as he has seen how the community […]

Around the world in a book

Lunar New Year (Celebrations & Festivals) by Natasha Yim

Martina Has Too Many Tias by Emma Otheguy

The Masjid Kamal Loves by Ashley Franklin

Lali’s Flip-Flops by Farhana Zia

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I was in the mood for picture books, and when I went looking for one, I found four. (I was surprised I only found four). And when I started to really look at them, I realized they were all culturally based.  And due to the shorter nature of them, it would be hard to write individual reviews, so here is a “Around the World ” in four books themed review. All are currently available and all are good reads and I will probably read the […]



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