Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Keeping your Family together

When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson

Grandpa’s Girls by Nicola I. Campbell

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Both books are very different but have the common thread of having a Native American influence, or backdrop. These would be great books to add to any collection. They both are fabulous examples of the meaning of friendship. I preferred When We Were Alone more than Grandpa’s Girls for several reasons. One reason I enjoyed it was the serious tone of the book. This might turn some people off, but even then, David Alexander Robertson has infused a great hopefulness as well. When We Were […]

Take a Trip

Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate

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I use the phrase “cozy read” a lot, but Grandad’s Camper by Harry Woodgate is a cozy read. Even if it is not always a happy read. You could substitute any gender of the two grandfathers of the story, and you have “this” story, as the loss of a spouse or partner is universal. Everyone will grieve, everyone will remember the connections they had. I enjoyed how everything is just “normalized” and not “in your face” about the subject. The two grandfathers of the child […]

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

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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 […]

Two different books creating feelings

I'll Be the Water: A Story of a Grandparent's Love by Alec Aspinwall

Crying is Like the Rain: A Story of Mindfulness and Feelings by Heather Feinberg

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Two interesting books, but not enough for me to find the word limit for each solo, therefor I am going to do “two books one review” for these little numbers. The connection I find with both titles is that they both have a somber theme and/or feeling to them. I’ll Be the Water: A Story of Loss, Greif, and a Grandparent’s Love is obviously about the loss of a beloved grandparent. However, it is also a hopeful story. We see all the wonderful things that […]

She works hard for her money and channels Julia Child in the process

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte

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Measuring Up could cover several categories in cbr12bingo, but I am going to use it for Money. Even though the money aspect is a small part of the story, it is also not as small as it might seem at first. Lily LaMotte’s story of Cici, a young girl from Taiwan, moves to Seattle, with her mother and father and leaving behind her beloved paternal grandmother. Her A-ma was more than a grandmother, she was a best friend, teacher and the one person who “got […]

Bad a##, Kick a## and all around one damn good read

Suncatcher by Jose Pimienta

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Some plot point spoilers. I figured that Suncatcher would be about music and some sort of hard rock. Instead about being about “just music” it is about music (punk/hard rock/independent/and as it is set in Mexico, the cultural influences of the era), perfection, the obsessions we allow ourselves and the ghosts that haunt us. All the reviews I have seen seem to take the character Beatriz literally: her grandfather’s soul is literally trapped in his guitar; she is literally being haunted by him and the […]



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