Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Peter and the Wolf: Wolves Come in Many Disguises by Gavin Friday

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I will be blunt. I have never understood the Peter & the Wolf story. However, with this graphic novel edition, things are shown in simple, mostly black and white illustrations by Bono (yes, that Bono). They are modern, awkward, smooth, abstract, realistic, beautiful and ugly. They are perfect for what is being presented. Peter and the Wolf: Wolves Come in Many Disguises by Gavin Friday finally allowed me to have a better understanding of the work. Not having to just hear the story with music […]

Love and Grief on the Oregon Coast

Heartwaves by Anita Kelly

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Every Anita Kelly book I read is my new favorite, and this is the one currently holding the trophy. When we meet Mae, they have just spread their best friend’s ashes at the beach in a small Oregon town. Almost on a whim, she decides to move to this town—in part because she wants to be closer to Jesus (the friend, not the Lord), and in part because there’s a storefront for sale on Main Street. What better way to honor Jesus’s legacy than to […]

Feeling lost after loss

The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

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When you’ve been a children’s librarian for years, it is easy to get burnt out on the material. For me, that also meant I got cocky. Can any kids book really hook me anymore as a bitter adult who has READ IT ALL? Are there any GOOD STORIES LEFT? Yes, of course, to both of those things. THE LOST LIBRARY by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass proved just that. The last day of fifth grade is approaching, and Evan is pretty nervous about moving up […]

June 2024 Leftovers

The First Quarry by Max Allan Collins

Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City by Adam J. Criblez

Out On The Cutting Edge by Lawrence Block

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nevada by Imogene Binnie

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Exalted by Anna Dorn

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Happy Pride to all who celebrate! The First Quarry**** I was disappointed in the quality of the last couple of Quarry novels so I wasn’t expecting much…but this was good. One of his best plots and I really enjoyed it. Could’ve done without the racism. Big believer that you can show the casual racism of the past (1970s) without wallowing in it and the book does that. Otherwise, it’s good. Kings of the Garden: The New York Knicks and Their City**** Stretching a four star […]

Red Kites and Black Birds

The Pebble: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Marius Marcinkevičius

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The Pebble: An Allegory of the Holocaust by Marius Marcinkevičius, illustrated by Inga Dagilė and translated by Jura Avizienis is a clever telling of the Holocaust story via one child’s experiences. We follow a child from inside to the ghetto, to the day they leave and do not return. The mystical element might be assumed “real” and therefore, having a younger child missing the metaphor, but older readers/children and adults will appreciate it. The artwork is sparse, but creates a tone that allows the realism […]

Finding yourself

A Sky of Paper Stars by Susie Yi

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A Sky of Paper Stars by Susie Yi is probably more of a 3.5 than a pure 4 rating as there were a few bumps for me. However, I enjoyed seeing Korean culture, some of it I knew and other aspects new. My unscientific opinion is that probably Korean culture is not known well by the aimed age reader (a stronger 8 to 12). My experience with Asian based characters seems to lean towards Chinese first, with Japanese second, then the people of Taiwan and […]



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