Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

One curse, one family, a lifetime of growing up

Salt Magic by Hope Larson

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Salt Magic by Hope Larson and illustrated by  Rebecca Mock is an experience book. You read it, you have an experience. Mine is different from yours, and yours is different from the third guy’s reading. Things are if Alice in Wonderland met Wizard of Oz and something else…. I can’t put my finger on it. The artwork is the main character, though we are being told the story which is narrated, in text, by a young girl in the years right after World War I. […]

Dorothy Dingle: the Perfect Mother

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

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After his mother has been gone for a week, eleven-year-old Hank and his toddler sister Boo are forced to seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact. But with Lou Ann’s help comes social workers and a new school, and Hank worries he might have made a huge mistake. I don’t read much middle grade nowadays, but I was intrigued by this book because I haven’t read any middle grade book dealing with foster care and parentification before. The author’s note about her own […]

Thyme travels

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

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As an adult, I found a few areas in Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin that were not “smooth” for me, however, from ages 10 to 14 I would have enjoyed it. You are there with our narrator Thyme (like the clock, with a HY). You worry about fitting in at your new school, you worry about your siblings and your relationships with them, you worry about your old friendships, you are sad and happy, you try to balance your “now and then” and along the […]

Monsters live

Janus Silang and the Creature of Tabon volume one in the Janus Silang Saga by Edgar Calabia Samar

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Janus Silang and the Creature of Tabon volume one in the Janus Silang Saga by Edgar Calabia Samar, Natasha Ringor (Illustrator), and Carljoe Javier as the adaptor is more of a 2.5 than a two. There was this “niggle” as I was reading saying, “This is good, pay attention.” But another part of me was saying, “you are so missing something about this book” and therefore I cannot give it a 3 but also, there was too much I did like to just give a […]

New chapter reader series

Seashell Key volume one by Lourdes Heuer

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Seashell Key is going to be a new series and volume one will be out by the end of April 2024. Lourdes Heuer and illustrator Lynnor Bontigao made three cute stories about six friends, a big shaggy doggy, a turtle and the fun (and slightly crazy) adventures they get into, the coconut water they drink and the mangos that have been eaten (by the turtle). As my copy was a physical reader’s copy, the artwork was incomplete, but notes do say that it will be […]

Wednesday’s child might be full of woe, but our Wednesday keeps on trying

Wednesday Wilson Connects the Dots by Bree Galbraith

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I was not really the audience for the book Wednesday Wilson Connects the Dots. However, it is well written by Bree Galbraith, has good representation with a diverse cast, and is a familiar story of friendship, business sense and valuing yourself and work. The illustrations by Morgan Goble help transition from a mostly illustrated read to a mostly text read and gives you pieces that might not be picked up by the words. I was not aware this was a series until after reading, so […]



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