family – Page 161 – Cannonball Read 17

Did I mention the NOT cows????

Black Sand Beach V01: Are You Afraid of the Light? by Richard Fairgray

December 15, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Black Sand Beach V01: Are You Afraid of the Light? is a fun mystery in a traditional modern comic/graphic novel format. The spooky is spooky for the 10 to 14 crowd (slightly younger could do as well, but this is not for the overly sensitive reader as there are skeleton/zombie ghosts, a haunted lighthouse, odd looking characters who might have a live body in a bag, and um… not cows … wandering around). But nothing is really over the top. Except, it is. There is no seriousness […]

Once I wore magic snow suits to play in the snow. Now I just read about the stuff.

Snow Friends by Margery Cuyler

Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper

December 11, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

It is winter and as I type this, there are flakes of snow speeding about outside the window. And how can you not remember the times you were a kid and went out in the snow to play on a day like this? (Okay, maybe not in Hawaii or someplace equally warm….) But I remember the boots, hats, mittens (with mittens attached to a string that went around your back to the other mitten, so you didn’t lose it…) and snowsuits (that were magic: once […]

Life Through Poetry

Ain’t Never Not Been Black by Javon Johnson

December 8, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Ain’t Never Not Been Black is a book I wish I did not have to rate. It is a personal read about the journey one person (our poet Javon Johnson) takes growing up a black and living as a black man in this country. It is well written in straight forward poems that combine the dark and hope of this journey. Johnson’s words are not set for anyone group of people. All people can relate to and learn from his words. The straight forwardness of […]

When you love a series you don’t want it to end…

The Dragon Prince Graphic Novel V01: Through the Moon by Peter Wartman

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures by Bryan Konietzko

December 4, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had two friends into a show called, The Dragon Prince. They had seen all but one season but knew this girl would love it as much as they did. And she did. A lot. (In fact, so much that she would introduce the show to her dad; who binged season three and then excitedly asked when season four was. But she had to deal with his sad, puppy eyes when she informed him that it was […]

Don’t Stop Me Now (I Want) Somebody To Love, and you’re it Freddie

Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody by Mike Dawson

December 1, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Do have a band that just followed you throughout your life? Did you eat, sleep and breath that band? Did you also tease your little sister merciless about her “boy bands” and their breakups? Well Mike does in Freddie & Me: A Coming-of-Age (Bohemian) Rhapsody. The story Mike Dawson tells us is how the band, Queen and mostly Freddie Mercury, made an impact on his life. It colored almost every big moment of his life (from the first time he heard them, from the time […]

Names, family and two neat books

Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

The Gifts of Being Grand: For Grandparents Everywhere by Marianne Richmond

November 27, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A short (all of two books) list of picture books follows this paragraph. Wait, is it a list if it is only two? Anyway, both books would be good for gifts to different people. The first one is a great gift for a child and the second, for grandparents. Your Name is a Song talks about how it can be difficult for a child who has a name that is difficult to pronounce. Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow shows how one mother shows her child how beautiful her […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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