Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Being the new kids in school isn’t their only issue

Glitch Volume 1 by Abigail Blackman, Eleanor Summers and Shima Shinya

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While cleaning up older links to online reader copies, I found one from 2023. How or why it was still active, I do not know (I have had ones from February 2025 that have already become inactive). Therefore, yes Glitch Volume 1 by Abigail Blackman, Eleanor Summers (translator) and Shima Shinya is available in a finished copy, as are the other (so far) three volumes in this series. I am not sure if there will be more, but I hope it is wrapped up in […]

Just a piece of the puzzle

Issunboshi: A Graphic Novel by Ryan Long

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Picture it: Feudal Japan where creatures of myth and folklore are real. You can liken it to some Western stories (which came first? I do not know, but I assume the Asian ones) and the adventures our tiny hero has will meet the pages with clever text and images. This graphic novel, Issunboshi: A Graphic Novel by Ryan Long, unfolds in quick layers. There are a few surprises, but for the most part, you know where things are going. The idea of “you do not […]

She climbed and protected so we all could enjoy

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita Yasuda and Yuko Shimizu

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I am not a sports person. I am not an outdoors person. I am not a hiking person. And I am certainly not a mountain climbing person. I am a person who will read a book outside (but it’s a porch and there better be running water/bathroom and cool drinks nearby). And I am a person who will read a book about someone who is an outdoors, sporty, mountain climbing person. And  Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita […]

I want to ride my bicycle and eat noodles

Noodle on a Bicycle (Caldecott Honor Book) by Kyo Maclear and Gracey Zhang

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I can be a snob when a book is given high praise. Especially winning something like the Caldecott or even a Caldecott honor award. Now, that is not to say the book wasn’t deserving, but I have the personality that says, “Was it really that good?” Usually, I can enjoy it, but no, it was not worth the “hype.” I said usually. The picture book Noodle on a Bicycle (Caldecott Honor Book) by Kyo Maclear and Gracey Zhang (as the illustrator) was worth the award(s) […]

I picked a couple fun images from online, but the whole book I wish I could publish here!

Monster Cats Vol. 1? by Pandania

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What can you say about a book that is titled, Monster Cats Vol. 1? Well, you can say it is by Pandania. You can say it is fun, cute and silly. It is an easy to read manga comic that talks about, in a conversational format, about the “narrator” and their particular monster cats. No, they are not cats who have monster personalities, but are actual monsters: vampires, invisible man (woman?) cat, a yeti, sirens, and even mimics and moving chests. To be read in the […]

The World Gone Mad

Our Man in Tokyo: An American Ambassador and the Countdown to Pearl Harbor by Steve Kemper

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The attack on Pearl Harbor was shocking and unexpected to the American public and government, but for Joseph C Grew, the American ambassador to Japan, it was the only logical outcome to a decade’s worth of missed opportunities for peace. For all the many times we rehashed World War Two in school, I never learned much about what led Japan to side with the Axis, and why they seemingly so suddenly launched into war with the United States – Pearl Harbor always arrived as a […]



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