Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

With his red hoodie and his bicycle basket full of food

Federico and the Wolf by Rebecca J. Gomez

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My job has many layers, but unlike an onion, only some stink. One layer that does not stink is finding new books. Today a customer needed a book for a student of theirs. Federico and the Wolf. I pictured some stuffy looking cover. An old Mexican folk tale. Rich with history but dry. Boy was I surprised! Rebecca J. Gomez and Elisa Chavarri created a clever take on the Little Red Riding Hood story told with a Mexican American twist.  Rhyming and just bouncy text […]

Family vacations, saving the world and talking cats

Pandora’s Legacy by Kara Leopard

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Pandora’s Legacy was one of those books that I judged by the cover. I know! One should not do that, but sometimes (especially with graphic novels) I figured I had an idea of the fantasy, realism and levels of scary vs. thriller. I do not like SCARY. Thriller on the other hand, I am a fan of. I like intellectual thrills Kara Leopard has a fun story taking on Greek myths. She might not follow the story a hundred percent (or at least how I […]

The concept is better than the execution

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

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Official book description: The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away. This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all […]

Needed to be More Twisted

A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

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Well this one was a letdown. I read the twisted tales about Beauty and the Beast and loved how that was set up. This one takes a look at Aladdin and Jasmine and what would have happened if Jafar got to use the lamp and have Genie grant him wishes. I think the biggest problem is that none of the characters feels very developed. There seems to be a side plot with the introduction of two characters (Duban and Morgiana) that held more promise than […]

Silver to Gold

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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I don’t know what to say about this awesome book. Novik does a great job of developing three characters (Miryem, Wanda, and Irinushka). The setting of the story is great and we have a fire demon, a race of people called the Staryk who live in a wintery world that is adjacent to the Russia the story takes place in. I loved all three of these characters equally (which almost never happens). I wanted a follow-up story though about what happens to Miryem. The ending […]

There Was Once A Girl Named Isabelle

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

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Wow this book was perfection. I laughed, held my breath, cried a bit, and cheered. Donnelly did such a wonderful job with this book I can’t wait to read more from her. “Stepsister” follows what happens after Cinderella (Ella) is locked away and her two stepsisters remove parts of their feet (Tavi cutting away her heel and Isabelle her toes) and are found out by a bird singing in a tree. What follows is the two girls and their mother are shunned by their village […]



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