Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

We agree to disagree (Bingo Blackout!)

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

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#CBR11 Bingo: Two heads are better than one (would also work for Illustrated or Youths!) For two months of the year, all through high school, Deja and Josiah are best friends, while working at the local Pumpkin Patch extraordinaire. For four years, from the start of September until Halloween, they’ve been dutifully serving customers in the Succotash hut, and sharing pretty much everything with one another for those two months. Once they go back to school, they don’t really interact. This year is different. Deja and […]

It’s about being the flipper, not the pinball.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

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CBR11 BINGO: Youth I LOVE Rainbow Rowell. I don’t think that any other writer captures what it feels like to fall in love the first time like she does. Her books are engaging, sometimes desperately bittersweet and always honest. While I am not so patiently waiting for “Wayward Son” to be available, I snatched up her brand new graphic novel to tide me over. It’s also the first day of Fall, so this seems fitting. Deja and Josie have been working at the local pumpkin […]

When your first female friend shows you that change can be good as well as nervous making

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks

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Friends With Boys is more a three and half as something was missing for me. It also feels like a second book should happen but has not. I know the author/illustrator, Faith Erin Hicks, is no stranger to series (I have the Nameless City series on my TBR list) therefore, it might not be unheard of. Yet, at the same time, this is a standalone title. There is an open-ended completion to the story. And because of that, a second read is recommended. I know […]

Do you like Fall? Do you like snacks? Do you like being happy? Yes? Then this is the graphic novel for you.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, Faith Erin Hicks

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This was, without a doubt, the most enjoyable reading experience I’ve had this year. Every single page was a god-damned delight. Do I need to say more? OK. Well. This is Rainbow Rowell, so if you love her, you’re going to need to read this. It reminded me a lot of her short story “Midnights,” except that this is about best friends who love Halloween instead of Best Friends who love New Years Eve. Deja and Josie work at an amazing Pumpkin Patch (honestly, if […]

Ah, the sweet autumnal smell of love. (CBR11 Bingo)

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, Faith Erin Hicks

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I was always going to love this book. If there was a book created for me, this would be it. All its missing to make it absolute perfection is a focus on the color purple. Its set in my favorite season, specifically on my personal high holy day (Halloween), featuring an adventure, some unrequited/unacknowledged love, pumpkins, snacks, and a goat on the loose. Seriously, Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks nailed this delightful story of two friends spending their last night at work together before […]

This is Halloween (or at least a Pumpkin Patch)

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

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I know of Rainbow Rowell, but do not think I have read them (maybe a short story). I know that if you want a good book you cannot really go wrong with Rowell. But I was not familiar with Faith Erin Hicks (though I will be looking into them). And as a First Second book? Well they really cannot do wrong in my eyes. Therefore, perhaps I expected too much out of this. Yet, I will say, even with the few “holes” for me, I […]



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