Social Themes – Page 178 – Cannonball Read 17

A really long review that has spoilers

Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles

September 9, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

This review is long as this book brought out a lot of feelings. Feelings of remembering books I read as a kid and didn’t get “the point” of. Feelings of current events. Feelings of not liking characters. And a lot more. This is a book you experience and YMMV. Becoming Beatriz is the companion novel to Like Vanessa. It starts on the day Beatriz turns 15 and the night her brother is murdered by a rival gang. Like this incident was a sidebar in the […]

When Pencil Met Purple Marker

When Pencil Met the Markers by Karen Kilpatrick

September 9, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Pencil should have stopped meeting writing tools after they meet Eraser. Karen Kilpatrick and the gang (Luis O. Ramos, Jr. and German Blanco) have created a new Pencil and Eraser picture book book (ages 4 to 7) with When Pencil Met the Markers. But this time the point of the story is that it is okay to “color outside the lines.” In fact, it is encouraged after the initial, “Oh no! You cannot do that! You cannot be different!” We also learn that you cannot […]

How Do You Hide When You’re an Elephant?

The Elephants’ Guide to Hide-And Seek by Kjersten Hayes

September 4, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I wanted a book to read. I was at work where it can be ironically hard to find “the one” as there are too many choices. I had a pile of picture books and looked at them and randomly read the covers, backs and insides. When I found “something” (I don’t even remember what that was) that hit me as it was going to be “the one” I said, “This one. We are reading this one.” (Yes, that was the royal we. We were alone […]

Do drop in and find this book

Dewdrop by Katie O’Neill

September 2, 2020 by BlackRaven 2 Comments

I am on the fence about Katie O’Neill. I have not disliked anything I have read, but I am also not “OMG MY FAVORITE EVER” author. There is a certain charm that O’Neill has that comes across in what I have read. Even when there is “scary adventure” it is still comforting. She seems like she might be your favorite aunt. Or that fun neighbor that becomes like an aunt/grandmother to you. And that charm is continued in their picture book, Dewdrop. This is just […]

Pretty people doing not pretty things

The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel by Fred Fordham

The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by K. Woodman-Maynard

July 24, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

cbr12bingo The Roaring 20’s The Roaring 20’s probably would not be the Roaring 20’s if not for The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I am not going to go all English Lit on you and say the meaning of the story but will tell you it is about several 20-to 30-something rich, spoiled, brats (editorial comment) and their boredom. You can say that our narrator is unreliable, judgmental, the whole works. Or not. But in the end, what it is all about is people […]

She works hard for her money and channels Julia Child in the process

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte

July 13, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Measuring Up could cover several categories in cbr12bingo, but I am going to use it for Money. Even though the money aspect is a small part of the story, it is also not as small as it might seem at first. Lily LaMotte’s story of Cici, a young girl from Taiwan, moves to Seattle, with her mother and father and leaving behind her beloved paternal grandmother. Her A-ma was more than a grandmother, she was a best friend, teacher and the one person who “got […]

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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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