Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Rough but Important Middle Grade Novel

No Place Like Home by James Bird

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This is a rough, emotional story, but also a story full of hope and love. Opin is living in a car with his mom and older brother, Emjay, since they left his father several years ago because he was violent and abusive. Emjay has a tendency to run off when they stop places on their way to Watts Los Angeles and is full of anger, which sometimes is expressed in violence and being cruel with his words towards his family. But Opin finds a dog, […]

Gay selkies for us all!

The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

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Fifteen year old Morgan lives on a small Canadian island, where she spends her days hiding her true self from her three girlfriends. Home life isn’t much better, as her single mom and ornery brother also don’t seem to understand her. When Morgan meets a mysterious, beautiful tween named Keltie, her life becomes more interesting and more complicated. Morgan likes Keltie a lot, and Keltie unabashedly is affectionate to Morgan. But Keltie doesn’t understand Morgan’s need for secrecy. Add into the fact that Keltie is […]

“You remember the fairy tales you were told when you were very small – ‘once upon a time…’ Why do you think they always began like that?” “Because they weren’t true,” Simon said promptly. Jane said, caught up in the unreality of the high remote place, “Because perhaps they were true once, but nobody could remember when.”

Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark is Rising, #1) by Susan Cooper

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So I definitely missed this one as a kid, and what a shame. The series came on my radar when the apparently terrible movie was released. I saw a trailer for it and put the books on my TBR . . . and then did nothing about it for over a decade. Who even knows the timeline at this point. I kind of thought the book covers were ugly, so it never was a priority for me. But people really seem to love it, and […]

“And, as always happens, and happens far too soon, the strange and wonderful becomes a memory and a memory becomes a dream. Tomorrow it’s gone.”

Wintersmith (Tiffany Aching, #3) by Terry Pratchett

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I’ve been wrestling back and forth over whether I want to give this five stars or not, but I think for now I’m going with four because this took me longer to read than I would have liked, and it’s not sticking with me as fully as book two has. Maybe on re-read I will bump it up. Anyway, this is book three in the Tiffany Aching subseries of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and as usual, was a jolly good time with sneakly affecting undertones. There […]

This is weird, even for Murakami

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami

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I’m pretty sure I bought The Strange Library as an ebook, never read it, forgot it, then picked up the physical version in the library years later. This is not a book that would have translated well to the ebook form because the fold outs and page turns are pretty essential to the story. It also seems sort of like a children’s book, but feels too existential in a way. It’s weirdly philosophical in a way I can’t quite explain. Turns out libraries are indeed […]

Fantastic Jewish mythology middle grade!

The Ring of Solomon by Aden Polydoros

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I love Aden Polydoros’ books and when I saw he had a middle grade I was so excited. His books hit a very special place for me, and Ring of Solomon continues that trend. Zach and his younger sister, Naomi, find an old ring at the flea market and plan to get it for their mom for her birthday as she collects Judaica, but when they realize they can use the ring to communicate with animals, Zach decides to keep it for himself. He’s been […]



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