Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Need to feel good? Grab a book or four

Chirp!: Chipmunk Sings for a Friend by Jamie A. Swenson

Sunny-Side Up by Jacky Davis

We Are Better Together by Bill McKibben

Let’s Do Everything and Nothing by Julia Kuo

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Do you need some feel good stories? These books are positive, hopeful, and have a modern take on subjects. Each one ranges in the best age for it, but most ages five and up will be fine. Chirp!: Chipmunk Sings for a Friend by Jamie A. Swenson  This book is a simple story: a little chipmunk is alone and keeps singing for a friend. Scott Magoon illustrates the clever gem of finding the perfect note of friendship. The colors are simple, light without being muted. […]

For those who question and have big feelings

Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty

Meesha Makes Friends by Tom Percival

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The Questioneers and Big Bright Feelings series are a set of books dealing with social themes, such as confidence, being different, trying and failing, fears, lack of friendships all set for the (strong) four and up crowd. Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts on illustrations, and Tom Percival doing double duty with Meesha Makes Friends continue the themes. Beaty and Roberts use bold, bright, busy text and colors in Aaron Slater, Illustrator. The rhymes and fantastic illustrations (that are brassy, sassy, and […]

Go talk your weird love to the wind

Thirty Talks Weird Love by Alessandra Narvaez Varela

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When I first started to read Thirty Talks Weird Love my first thought was, “Well this is crap.” But I realized I was tired and told myself to go to bed. That is the main thing you need to know about Alessandra Narvaez Varela’s book: be rested. This book is an emotional rollercoaster and if you are the tiniest bit uncomfortable or not in a good headspace, do not try this book. The journey of finding and being perfection, and how we see ourselves are […]

Knight School and War

Squire by Sara Alfageeh

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I received my copy of Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas through here. I was excited to read as it was a graphic novel, but also had a look of fantasy and historical, which is a genre I enjoy. However, it was not what I was expecting. I did notice that my feelings of the book changed from “this is new and fresh” to “we do have a new voice, but I know this story.” Also, I was being influenced by having just watch […]

Two days that changed it all.

The Way I Say I by Nancy Tandon

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The Way I Say It is an old school feeling story with a modern take. The entire time I was reading I was thinking, “This is so 1980s!” I felt that while the issues being discussed in this book by Nancy Tandon, they were terribly tame by today’s standards. It almost felt like I had read this book back when I was between the ages of 8 and 12. Yet, dealing with a speech issue, brain injury and friendship woes is timeless at the same […]

Abstract reading

Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

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Kaleidoscope is classic Brian Selznick with the illustrations. It is busy, crowded, soft, heavy, black and white, surreal and realistic. However, the story is not what I expect from Selznick. It is abstract. Several stories are contained into three parts: Morning, Afternoon and Evening. All of these stories feel as if they should be connected, but none actually seem to be actually connected. Or are they? There are images that show up in more than one story (the boys breaking into a place and burning […]



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