Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Because I found two new books, I’m writing a three book review

Paper Planes by Jim Helmore

In a Jar by Deborah Marcero

Out of a Jar by Deborah Marcero

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Several of the books I have read deal with a friend moving a serious distance. And Paper Planes starts off as that kind of story. And like In a Jar by Deborah Marcero the solution is a lot simpler than our child narrators feel is possible. In Paper Planes by Jim Helmore, Mia and Ben are best friends who do everything together. And while they like watching the geese fly, and swinging together, they love making airplanes and hope someday to make one that will […]

Feelings are hard; the least we can do is give kids the words to describe them.

Star Wars Search Your Feelings, Galactic Basic Edition by Calliope Class & Caitlin Kennedy

What to Do When You're Feeling Blue by Andi Cann

The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld

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When I taught preschool, we did a lot of lessons on emotions.  I’m not sure there was anything we did over the course of the whole school year that didn’t somehow connect to emotions, since teaching kids how to deal with their own feelings and participate in a community where everybody else also had feelings was our overreaching goal, in the end.  We may have told parents we were teaching their kids the colors of the rainbow, but you best believe there were some lessons […]

Okay, it is a lot cheesy, but also a cute love story

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

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Note: all images shamelessly stolen from the internet as I really got into the Simon & Schuster free online books this month.   I was on the fence about Autoboyography by Christina Lauren (or Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings). I was not sure I was reading for another GLBTQ book so soon after the others I had read, and frankly thought the cover too cute. And when I got into the book, the “meet cute” romance tone of the story explained the cover. And yes, […]

Half-Cannonball with Murderbot (and FRIENDS!)

Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

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Forgive the late Valentine, but Tor posted this last week and I forgot about it until RIGHT NOW. Oops! The best thing about finishing this book (of course I did not want it to end!) is that now I can read all of the CBR reviews. Hooray! I had to stop myself from peeking at your reviews before I even started listening to Network Effect– the temptation was strong! Now I can continue to bask in the Murderbot blow despite having no new adventures to […]

When the Bully is the Hero, the Girl is in love with a God and there are spaceships up your nose.

Animal Crackers by Gene Luen Yang

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Gene Luen Yang can write the instructions to how to make a sandwich and I would read it. That does not mean I will love it, but I will always appreciate it. And Animal Crackers is in that category. I was not jumping up and down about it, and even with a second reading (although a bit of a quick one) and being able to put together a few more pieces I missed the first time, I still did not love this graphic novel. This […]

A little for me and a little for you

A Little Space for Me by Jennifer Gray Olson

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A Little Space for Me is a modern story of having our emotions and the space to deal with them. Jennifer Gray Olson’s take of dealing with the everyday stress of too many people, too much noise and other issues kids face today, is spiritual. Our young narrator has loud family and school and so much more to deal with they just want a little space. And they take it. You see in the illustrations that they literally take a bit of sky/space and put […]



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