Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Music puzzle

Piece by Piece: How Stephen Sondheim Made Musical Puzzles Come Alive by Erin Frankel

by Leave a Comment

Picture books. Love them or hate them they are a genre that has expanded my knowledge over the years. I have learned about volcanoes, bats, famous artistic nuns, poems and more. And Piece by Piece: How Stephen Sondheim Made Musical Puzzles Come Alive by Erin Frankel and illustrator Stacy Innerst added to it with a poetic look at Stephen Sondheim and his works. While not a “pure biography” of the composer, the highlights of his work and life are addressed. Things are whimsical and a […]

You could write the formula for all the future

Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

by Leave a Comment

CBR 17 BINGO: Play (because you know, theater) My freshman year literature professor told me that you should always read a Shakespeare play through twice to really get to the heart of it. I think that’s a good rule of thumb for any worthwhile literature, and I often think about doing so, except there are too many books in the world to read and right now I’m under time constraints with CBR BINGO. But if I were going to follow her amended advice, Arcadia would […]

Break a leg, have fun, and learn along the way

Bravo for Backstage! by Mary Rand Hess, Randy Preston and Marilena Perilli

by Leave a Comment

Looking through an online catalog I found a couple titles that looked interesting to read. At the time they did not have a link to them, so I emailed the rep of the publisher to see if I could get a reader copy either digitally or physically. I found it a little funny as she is a former coworker of mine from the sister store. I gave them a little gossip, and asked for a reader. They had just gotten digital ones and sent me […]

Raise the curtain

Upstaged by Robin Easter

by Leave a Comment

I have read a lot of middle reader novels and a lot of graphic novel middle readers. I have read a lot of stories that deal with LGBTQ issues. And of course, most (if not all) have dealt with growing up, coming of age, finding yourself and situations like those. Therefore, it takes a lot for me to really love a book with the above criteria. And while I liked and enjoyed Upstaged by Robin Easter, I did not love it.  However, I did like […]

The other series that gives you goosebumps

You're Invited to a Creepover V03 Ready for a Scare? The Graphic Novel by P.J. Night

You're Invited to a Creepover V04 The Show Must Go On! the Graphic Novel by P.J. Night

You're Invited to a Creepover V05 There's Something Out There the Graphic Novel by P.J. Night

You're Invited to a Creepover V06 Best Friends Forever the Graphic Nove by P.J. Night

by 2 Comments

Time for the other series that will give you more goosebumps! Ready for a Scare? The Graphic Novel Volume 3: You’re Invited to a Creepover by P.J. Night and illustrated by Glass House Graphics is for the Goosebump books lover who also likes graphic novels. Or for the reader who wants something “creepy” but is not ready for something like Five Nights of Freddy or an older read. Things can be a smidgen spooky (after all there are over the computer  seances,  the death of […]

She wrote the words to the stories

What I Must Tell the World : How: Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice by Jay Leslie

by Leave a Comment

Not only was Lorraine Hansberry a pioneer for many groups (women, playwrights, writers,  women of color, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community) she was a pioneer for reality. She told it as it was and that is amazingly told in this picture book, What I Must Tell the World : How: Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice. Jay Leslie tells the story of Hansberry from a young girl who would see first hand the prejudices of her time, but also would see the courage, the […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo