Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Talkin’ ’bout my best friend

Built to Last by Minh Lê,

by Leave a Comment

Built to Last by the fabulous author, Minh Lê, and the amazing illustrator, Dan Santat (no, I’m not biased at all), is an adorable story about friendship and the true and important things that cannot be broken. Sure things might fall and crash, and that can sometimes be funny, but there are few things that cannot have a do-over. Most things are able to have a fresh start, mostly because you have learned from any mistakes and know what is really important. The narrator is […]

Joyful

Joyful Song: A Naming Story  by Leslea Newman

 I Can Be... Me! by Leslea Newman

by Leave a Comment

In honor of Banned Book Week 2023 celebrations (or as one article called it, a Call to Arms), I wanted to read a banned book a day. Which, of course, means my precious picture books would help me fill my goal. One of the lists I had, however, was filled with books from 2000 to a few years ago (and was Canadian, but of course, counts in my book) and I would not have easy access to some of them. Therefore, I figured my goal needed tweaking. When […]

Imagine all the wonders

Today I Am a River by Kate Coombs

by Leave a Comment

Today I am a reader. And I did not need to use my imagination for that. However, if I was one of the characters in the story Today I Am a River I would need to use that imagination as I would need to decide what I wanted to be: a river, tree, owl or even a leaf. Each item in Kate Coombs picture book is a poem relating all the wonderful things that item is. We see how things float, fly and even the […]

Really I don’t write one for every book, just the majority of them

How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich in 17 Easy Steps by Bambi Edlund

by Leave a Comment

You probably don’t believe that I have not written a review for every book I have read. But that is true. One day in June 2023 I was reading online reader copies for picture books. And probably three to five of them I figured I would be unable to write a good review for or I just did not like them (there was one that I hated the ending so much that had it been a physical copy I would have thrown it). However, How […]

Around the world in a book

Lunar New Year (Celebrations & Festivals) by Natasha Yim

Martina Has Too Many Tias by Emma Otheguy

The Masjid Kamal Loves by Ashley Franklin

Lali’s Flip-Flops by Farhana Zia

by Leave a Comment

I was in the mood for picture books, and when I went looking for one, I found four. (I was surprised I only found four). And when I started to really look at them, I realized they were all culturally based.  And due to the shorter nature of them, it would be hard to write individual reviews, so here is a “Around the World ” in four books themed review. All are currently available and all are good reads and I will probably read the […]

Faith and fun

Zain’s Super Friday by Henna Khan

by Leave a Comment

While Zain’s Super Friday is not my all time favorite book, it is up there for two reasons. The first is that it has at least two layers and the second is that it deals with representation in a positive manner.   Zain is a young boy who is ready to go-go-go! on Friday morning. However, his father must work, and when he is done, it is time for prayers. We are exposed to the Muslim culture in a positive way. There is no racism, just […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo