Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Very is very good at all things…. except math

Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson

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cbr17bingo School  There have been days when I haven’t wanted to do any reading of late and then days when all I can do is read. Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson was part of one of those reading days. It is a graphic novel that is a coming of age story, therefore it has many of the familiar goodies, with a few new elements to keep it fresh. Everyone will have their own take on things due to their experiences and where they […]

One curse, one family, a lifetime of growing up

Salt Magic by Hope Larson

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Salt Magic by Hope Larson and illustrated by  Rebecca Mock is an experience book. You read it, you have an experience. Mine is different from yours, and yours is different from the third guy’s reading. Things are if Alice in Wonderland met Wizard of Oz and something else…. I can’t put my finger on it. The artwork is the main character, though we are being told the story which is narrated, in text, by a young girl in the years right after World War I. […]

Watch out Scooby Gang, there’s a new team in town

Goldie Vance The Hotel Whodunit by Lilliam Rivera

Goldie Vance volume 1 by Hope Larson

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I read the Goldie Vance novel, The Hotel Whodunit, before the graphic novel Goldie Vance volume 1 (though based on the comics) because the novel was due before the graphic novel at the library. However, I do not think I would have liked or disliked any differently if I had read in reverse. Both stories are a combination of Nancy Drew, Harriet the Spy and (from what I understand), Veronica Mars. I also got a bit of Archie Comics, along with a dash of the […]

Intriguing YA Read Concept that Didn’t Quite Stick the Landing

Mercury by Hope Larson

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CBR11 Bingo: Illustrated Picked up on a whim, this graphic novel features all black-and-white illustrations, which are simple but expressive, but the story itself was a bit fleeting to me. Split between the past and present, Mercury follows the journey of a teenage girl in Nova Scotia named Tara. She is currently living with her aunt, uncle, and cousin in her home town, after her mother is working in another province. After Tara and her mother’s house burned down a few years ago, she has […]

Another Step on my Literary Walk of Shame

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My literary walk of shame, i.e., the list of books I should have read a long time ago, seems to involve a lot of youth lit. I’ve never read any Nancy Drew books despite the fact that we had a stack of them in the closet when I was a kid. I didn’t read Little Women until I was 40. I just read Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn last month. And now, at long last, I have read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic time travel novel A […]



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