legends – Page 3 – Cannonball Read 17

Take That you meanie witch and your crazy, supernatural wild boar!

Took by Mary Downing Hahn

November 22, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The graphic novel adaptation of the novel Took, has similar qualities to other Mary Downing Hahn books and the “classic 1980s thrillers” I read as a kid (such as Pike, Stine, Cusick, etc.). Those themes are that the “stereotypical normal” (two parents, two to four kids, sometimes a pet or two, and having moved from the city to the country) has fractured and there is supernatural at work. It is a realistic thriller, but with folklore and legends attached. This is a familiar story (the […]

Talking wordy to you

Maddie and Mabel by Kari Allen

The Magical Clay Doll : A Legend Retold in English and Chinese by Ning Sun

Maribel’s Year by Michelle Sterling

November 14, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Picture book round-up with a family and friendship theme attached to them! All titles are currently available but were read via an online reader copy. I like how the publisher copy of Maddie and Mabel by Kari Allen describes our young sisters, “two spunky sisters who navigate their relationship with humor and heart.” There is heart, some humor and a lot of spunk, but not everything is for everyone. The dynamic between the siblings is old fashioned, but is not dated. If you have a […]

Bronze Age Crete in modern tone

Minoan Wings V02 Swallow's Dance by Wendy Orr

September 29, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

A companion to Minoan Wings V01 Dragonfly Song we follow a young woman on the eve of her first “bleeding” (mensuration) and what that means to her within her community in Minoan Wings V02 Swallow’s Dance. Several natural disasters mean that our narrators’ carefully ordered and privileged life is shattered. Eventually, these disasters leave her, her mother and their old nursemaid-slave homeless and alone in a strange new land. Realizing how her once higher status is now her greatest enemy, she must learn to put […]

Lock your doors, turn up the lights, surround yourself with garlic, and never invite a stranger in!

Frights from Feral V01 Welcome to Feral by Mark Fearing

September 21, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Mark Fearing (if that is their real name and not their ghost writer name) must have been one strange child and now a stranger adult. A child that was haunted by the best of the best hauntings, ghosts and ghouls whom they made friends with and shared with us now. They introduce us to those friends in their series about the town of Feral. Freya is our detective of the odd things in this town called Feral. They know the truth (or so they think) […]

Bronze-Age Crete

Minoan Wings V01 Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr

September 15, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The novel Minoan Wings V01 Dragonfly Song is a contemporary toned story set in the Bronze Age. The historical facts were well researched by the author, Wendy Orr. And what is presented is not just the factual information, but also there is an arc about mythology and religion (such as the goddess worship vs the bull/masculine, the representation of the animals and nature), and one that feels like it has more modern ideas of equality and gender (the goddess, the mother, the priestess, daughters). Though maternal ruled villages […]

The night parade is about to begin . . .

Tokyo Night Parade by J. P. Takahashi

August 16, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I am not really sure how I feel about the picture book, Tokyo Night Parade. After read I noticed there were several layers and the art needed its own reading. Taken on the surface, it is a sweet story about a young girl who wants to spend time with old friends from Japan, ones she has not seen since moving to New York. These friends are a bit different though, as they are the demons of Japanese folklore. And our young hero cannot see them […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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