Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Sometimes even your favorites can disappoint

The Baby-Sitters Club: Claudia and the New Girl by Gabriela Epstein (based on Ann M. Martin's novel)

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Claudia and the New Girl focuses (big shock) on Claudia, who is my favorite character in the series. A new girl, Ashley, joins Claudia’s class, and she’s also an artist! And she likes Claudia’s art and wants to be friends! Claudia gets swept up in the validation of having a friend share an interest and validate her work as something special. This leads to tension with her other friends and her not living up to her duties as vice-president of the Baby-Sitters Club. Friends falling […]

Young at Heart with Judy Blume

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

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Reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume was a walk down memory. I read this for our Cannon Book Club Young at Heart meeting in April since it was the shortest! Alas, it took me a ridiculously long time to listen to the audiobook. I made the mistake of listening in bed when tired from work. I went right to sleep! Tales kicked off this popular book series about Peter and his little brother Fudge. Peter wants to hang out with his friends and have […]

Adventures in ghost hunting

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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I read Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega for our Young at Heart Cannon book club. I am so glad this book came into my life. 2022 has been plagued with a few reading slumps from the pandemic. However, this middle-grade book got me back into the groove. I read the audiobook, which I highly recommend. The supernatural mystery follows two friends, Lucely and Syd, who live in St. Augustine, Florida. Lucely is Dominican-American and can see her ghost relatives. She speaks to their spirits […]

“She looked in the mirror and gasped. Melissa gasped back at her. For a long time, she stood there, just blinking. George smiled, and Melissa smiled too.”

Melissa's Story by Alex Gino

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In one word: Charming Cannonball Read Bingo: They She He In one word: Charming Cannonball Read Bingo: They She He I don’t read any children’s literature, aside from an occasional revisit of a childhood fave or a few failed attempts to do a tandem read-a-long with my kiddo. I picked up George for him to read, having seen it at the library and hearing about it years ago from my favorite podcast, Literary Disco. They did an episode where they read George and Lumberjanes, and […]

Ghostbusting doesn’t so much make them feel good as is absolutely necessary to fix a foolish mistake they made

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega

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Lucely (pronounced Lu-sell-i, at least by the audio book narrator) Luna may be living alone with her father (her mother left them when Lucely was little) but due to an unusual family legacy, she’s able to see the presence of all the family’s departed members. Her father, who once had the gift, can only see them as fireflies but accepts that they’re there and cooks massive meals to provide for all the extended members who keep Lucely company. The family spirits are all tied to […]

“Hope, because that is what we must give him, what we must give all of them. Hope and guidance and a place to call their own, a home where they can be who they are without fear of repercussion”

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

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It’s rare that I say everyone should read a particular book, but this is a book everyone, of all ages, should read.  TJ Klune has spun a beautiful story in The House in the Cerulean Sea.  It’s about finding one’s place in the world, learning to re-write the narrative others have placed on one’s self, that bigotry and fear can be overcome, and that acceptance can be found, starting sometimes as small as with one person to then slowly grow. Linus Baker is an investigator […]



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