Hyewon Yum – Cannonball Read 17

Kissed by an angel, second life or Toto, whatever you call it, it’s all about love

Toto by Hyewon Yum

January 22, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Toto by Hyewon Yum is currently available, but I had an online reader copy. Things are cute, but also serious as we are dealing with a birthmark on our narrator’s face. The usual things happen (people stare, the girl is nervous about it, her mother tries to hide it) but it is at school when our gal learns how special her mark (that she calls Toto) is. Things did not “wow” me, but I enjoyed the book. It is a nice addition to the idea […]

Is this your kind of fun?

Not Perfect by Maya Myers

We Light Up the Sky with Music! by Nick Maland

October 24, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I like books not just because they are fun, but because there is fun for everyone. Now you might not like a book about Best Buddies; or Romance; or World War Two. But that is okay, there are plenty of leaves on the tree for you to find something you do like. And that is what Not perfect and We Light Up the Sky with Music! was for me: one like and one not like. Maya Myers’s story is one anyone can relate too. Being […]

Ode to books

Ode to a Bad Day by Chelsea Lin Wallace

Odd Couples: A Guide to Unlikely Animal Pairs by Maria Birmingham

September 11, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I love doing book review roundups. They are a way to get a couple reviews done at once and since they are short I am not writing a lot of “nonsense” to make any word quotas (selfish I know, but use the advantages I have). Recently I found two books that are not alike in any traditional way (this is important to book two) but in a special way for me, which is the question: What do Ode to a Bad Day and Odd Couples have in common? Answer: They are both books […]

How much is that froggie in the swamp

The Dress in the Window by Robert Tregoning

Night Song by Mk Smith Despres

August 24, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I am all for books about being different and being you. I like stories where the family accepts the people for who they are (even if maybe it’s not exactly 100% realistic). And when I found The Dress in the Window (via an online reader copy due March 2024) I knew that this was one of those books. Granted I did not think, “OMG BEST BOOK EVER!” But Robert Tregoning created a story that was sweet and accepting of the young boy of the story. […]

A cup of potato

Luli and the Language of Tea by Marie Aang

The Pet Potato by Josh Lacey

May 10, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

In a recent picture book reading marathon I came out with four books under my belt. Since there was a lot to say about each one, I split the reviews into two. This is officially the second, but you can read them either way. Now, I was trying to come up with a theme for the two books I am currently writing about, Luli and the Language of Tea by Marie Aang and illustrated by Hyewon Yum, and The Pet Potato by Josh Lacey and […]

Sometimes I Grumblesquinch too

Sometimes I Grumblesquinch by Rachel Vail

February 21, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Katie Honors is a really nice kid, but in this realistic story about a young girl and her little brother Chuck, who seems to ruin everything he (literally) touches, Sometimes I Grumblesquinch (or more actually Katie does) it is hard to stay nice. Trying to stay the “good girl” after a not so fun morning, she pushes her feelings down (grumblesquinch) every time something happens that upsets her (Chuck takes her seat at the table, he gets food over her favorite shirt, he “punches” her […]

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