Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I was sixteen. I lived inside of myself way more than I lived inside of this town.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

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I started grabbing everything I could find and I had no idea what other people thought was good or what was important. And so I almost never told anyone what I liked because I was terrified that they would tell me how stupid it was. Every single thing that you loved became the source of both intense obsession and possible shame. Everything was a secret. ― Kevin Wilson, Now Is Not the Time to Panic Frankie is a sixteen-year-old girl with three feral older brothers […]

“I realized I didn’t want to carry them around for the rest of my life.”

Nude Model and Other Stories by Tsubasa Yamaguchi

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This is a very interesting and striking manga collection of three pretty dark short stories. I haven’t read the author’s other work, Blue Period, which is about a teenager discovering art in high school, but I had looked at it before and liked the art style, which convinced me to pick this up. Since it’s a standalone consisting of three short stories, I figured it would be a good insight into her style and I liked the striking cover a lot. I liked all three […]

When you think you’ve joined the good guys but you’ve really just joined a cult

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat

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CBR15Bingo: Relation “ship” (cargo ships and relationships) Bingo: (left to right: Dwelling to On the Air) Will Kempen is on the run and on a mission: find the man who had his mother murdered and take him down. Unfortunately, his mission leads him directly into the hands of those who want him dead. After being rescued off of a sinking ship by Violet, the two of them are taken back to the hall of the Stewards (protectors of the light and fighters against the Dark […]

Different tune, same story

Battle of the Bands by Eric Smith and Lauren Gibaldi

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There’s a thing that happens when you totally crush out on someone. It’s like you can feel your heartbeat in every part of your body. There’s a euphoric kind of excitement mixed with sadness and terror. It’s hard to explain, but it happens in an instant and then just explodes and grows from there, consuming your every waking thought and sometimes your dreams. You can’t escape from it. It takes over and runs the controls that make you . . . you. Suddenly, you aren’t […]

“It’s like everyone else got instructions, but we didn’t.”

Tegan and Sara: Junior High by Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, and Tillie Walden

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CBR15Bingo: Bodies, Bodies (physically growing up, stressing about getting your period, wanting to differentiate yourself when you’re an identical twin — the first chapter is actually called “Teenage Bodies.”) I read this without ever having listened to any Tegan and Sara music and loved it, so this is clearly a winner. I am a huge Tillie Walden fan, which is why I picked this up in the first place, and I’m really glad I did. I think this book does a great job of being […]

“Everywhere I looked, there was danger:” A Nuanced and Interesting Middle-Grade Novel

Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein

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Turtle Boy was a random bookstore find for me, and I’m really glad I picked it up off the shelf. An interesting cover illustration will always get me, and the combination of bright yellow and a picture of the visual representation of my inner child intrigued me. Turtle Boy follows Will Levine, who is struggling with bullying, the death of his father, and having to do community service as part of the preparation for his bar mitzvah. In the opening chapters of the book, Will is […]



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