Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A controversial question with the answer of a good book

Jo Jo Makoons: The Use-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley

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One of the most controversial questions you can ask about characters of a book is, “Why is your character X?” (Fill in the blank: gay, black, Muslim, etc.). But it is an important question. Why does you character have to be X? OR: Why do they have brown hair or green eyes? Why are they tall or short? Why are they male, female, or non-binary? Why are they an alien, a dog, a robot or a farting penguin? What does that piece of information do […]

Dramarama (and a delayed CANNONBALL)!

Giant Days, Vol. 1 (single issues 1-4) by John Allison, Lissa Treiman

Giant Days, Vol. 2 (single issues 5-8) by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin

Giant Days Vol. 3 (single issues 9-12) by John Allison, Max Sarin, Jim Campbell, Lissa Treiman

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I started this review back in March (EEP!) and it has been my albatross now for nearly two months. Double EEP! I adored the web comics, and when I was feeling down around the Covid-aversary I dug into some good- old- fashioned- comfort- comics. What began as a pick-me-up purchase of the first volume became a “tune it all out” obsession once I realized that more volumes were available on both Scribd and Hoopla. My diversion turned into a marathon reading of volumes 1-12 with […]

“We’re not in Ghost Busters! This is real life!”

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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I did not read Ghost Squad when I was young, as it did not yet exist! This is a 2020 release, and I feel that I would have liked it very much when I in third/fourth grade. There’s magic, monsters, hijinks, and plenty of cat-content that would have kept me giddy throughout. I worried at first that this tale might be “heavy” for a middle-grade reader; it starts with some genuine adult anxieties and perils. We open with the financial woes of Lucely’s father- the bank is […]

Uni-Uni-Uni-corn!

Margaret’s Unicorn by Briony May Smith

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Margaret’s Unicorn is a cute story about a young girl who misses her old home after she and her parents move to be closer to her grandmother. The end. Oh wait, there is a unicorn too. This is a special friend she makes that helps make the move a little easier. Therefore, all the parts of a moving story are there (new house, new smells, new spaces, new emotions, and new friend). Briony May Smith’s story is exactly what you would expect it to be […]

Friendships, late nights and feminism

Giant Days Volume One by John Allison

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Giant Days Volume One is a clever book about three best friends who could not be more different. They are three people who would never have been friends if they had not been roommates/neighbors in university. They are three girls who are ready to take on the world. That is, if they can stop causing dramas, survive a night of partying way too hard, and look around them and see the consequences of their actions. You know, typical 20-somethings just trying to get through the […]

The perfection of imperfection

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill

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Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence is not a perfect book. Which is what makes it interesting and exciting. This is (as the author, Joel Christian Gill, themselves says) a memoir not a biography. These snippets of Joel growing up in Virginia, living in the ‘partments, dealing with bullies (adult and kid) are based on events that happened, people he knew and a little poetic license to move his story along. They take you on a journey of how the author learned how and when […]



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