Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I’m So Glad I’m Not an Adolescent Anymore

Flamer by Mike Curato

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I loved that this graphic novel made me feel. There were so many times I would think “Aw, poor guy” and have a lot of sympathy or empathy for main character Aiden, and other times he made me laugh. The book is funny sometimes, especially if you, like me, can sometimes have a juvenile sense of humor. These varying emotional beats could easily occur within a page or two of each other. While the book is about Aiden Navarro, author Mike Curato drew on his […]

Animorphs Rebooted

The Invasion by Chris Grine

The Visitor by Chris Grine

The Encounter by Chris Grine

The Message by Chris Grine

The Invasion by Chris Grine

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I read all six of the Animorphs Graphic novels by Chris Grine! I read the first book with my tween book group at the library, and it was so fun to talk to them about it. They generally really liked it. Only one kid was skeeved out by the morphing. Most of them didn’t really get the main conflict, though. I’m not sure if this is because they are too young (many are third graders) or if the portrayal of the Yeerks isn’t very clear. […]

Middle Grade Graphic Novel Grab Bag

Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo

How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

Tiffany's Griffon by Magnolia Porter-Siddell and Maddi Gonzalez

Plane Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol

Sink or Swim by Veronica Agarwal and Lee Durfey-Lavoie

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

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As much as I am very grateful to be in grad school, I really missed getting to read for fun and so when I came home, I promised myself I could have an unfettered bookstore shopping trip. The result was a basket of so many books that the checkout guy said “Wow,” and a good proportion of those were middle grade graphic novels, because I love them. Lunar Boy is a sweet coming of age story that follows Indu. He was found on the moon […]

A trio of romances featuring a rockstar, small town angst, and magical cooking

Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

Basil and Oregano by Melissa Capriglione

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CBR15 Passport Challenge: New to you Authors – Jen Comfort, Kate Clayborn, and Melissa Capriglione Midnight Duet by Jen Comfort is a gender-flipped remix of Phantom of the Opera. Erika Greene seemingly had it all when taking on a lead Broadway role. She was a bit of a minx and slept with someone’s boyfriend, which led to a production light falling on her. She retreats to her family’s dilapidated opera house in Paris, Nevada, and vows to become a better person. She had a decent plastic surgeon […]

The perfect addition to an almost perfect story (Zutarra 4Eva!!)

The Promise (Avatar: the Last Airbender) by Gene Luen Yang

The Search (Avatar: the Last Airbender) by Gene Luen Yang

The Rift (Avatar: the Last Airbender) by Gene Luen Yang

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At the age of 41, I have finally seen Avatar: the Last Airbender, and boy, have I been fangirling out like a tweenager. I am a Zuko girly, a no-arguments Zutarra shipper, I made ATLA my library’s September theme (“Reading is Elemental” was the national theme but ALA went with Pixar… Psshaw), and I immediately dove into the graphic novel series (which I intend to read before continuing the journey in Korra). I was fairly familiar with these books as I have ordered them for […]

And What Comes After Bans?

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

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Read as part of CBR15bingo: gender and banned. Maia Kobabe is a non-binary writer whose book Gender Queer has been banned at many schools and libraries across the country.  It almost made perfect sense that when I saw I had to read a banned book on gender for this challenge, I’d get to Maia Kobabe’s work. Maia’s book seems to have been the spark that ignited the fires of book banning in Florida. I will not argue that most Americans have a complex understanding of gender. […]



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