Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What is your reading mood today?

This Book Will Get You to Sleep by Jory John

I am the Storm by Jane Yolen

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Two picture books that could not be more different are the subjects of this review. If you have a more lighthearted need, you can read This Book Will Get You to Sleep. And if you are looking for a more calm and deeper book, try I am the Storm. Both are good books but have a different niche to fill. This book will either put you to sleep or keep you awake. However, since This Book Will Get You to Sleep! is busy, filled with […]

Don’t know your ABCs? That’s okay! You can still create a poem

Emily Writes: Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Beginnings by Jane Yolen

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When you read a book that you have wanted to for awhile and it is not what you expected, that can be a bit disappointing. Sometimes it can make it even better than expected. And sometimes it is a combination. Emily Writes: Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Beginnings is one of those books that was a combination.   Jane Yolen is a writer. She knows how to spin a tale and makes Dickinson come to life. However, due to lack of information about Dickinson as a […]

This could have been so much better…

Pay the Piper by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple

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Callie is a reporter for her school newspaper, and has landed a backstage pass to interview the band that’s playing in town, Brass Rat.  This is a big deal for Callie, who is only 14 and has wildly over-protective parents, which is strange given the names they saddled their children with.  These paranoid adults have given their children names that guarantee they will have difficulties in life.  I present to you: Marsepolus, Calcephony, and Nickelodeon.  In an era with cell phones, they named their youngest […]

Round the Seasons we go

Sing a Season Song by Jane Yolen

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Sing a Season Song is a sweet poem that is a “twofer” book. First, you get the book (or the story). This is one large, lovely poem poem. And second, you get the stanza of the page, or what I felt was a solo poem. Jane Yolen knows how to twist a phrase or ten. And with this book with the outrageously gorgeous and sweet illustrations by Lisa Ashlock, proves it. There are details galore. Each page is super busy, and you have to look […]

They say it with love

How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? by Jane Yolen

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The illustrations of the cover tell you that this is another Jane Yolen and Mark Teague collaboration. And the cute lovely dinosaur on said cover shows you it is part of their How Do Dinosaurs…? series. The title tells you that this is How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? The format is familiar: the narrator asks does the dinosaur do X? (Something naughty or mischievous). And then you see what you should be doing to celebrate the holiday. The board book format makes it perfect […]

Gorgeous graphic novel with a dragon, a maiden, a warrior, and kites.

The Last Dragon by Jane Yolen (author), Rebecca Guay (art)

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 The Last Dragon is a beautiful book to hold.  Colors are muted and layered, nothing is a single flat shade.  Lighting has been carefully considered, illuminating and glowing as needed each panel.  The “maiden” is an herbalist’s daughter named, Tansy.  She is described as, “no color at all.  She seemed to blend in with her surroundings” and the artist, Rebecca Guay, did an incredible job showing this.  I also love the way Guay drew the dragon, so powerful and ferocious.  It reminds me of a […]



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