Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Snow happens weather you like it or not.”

When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan

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When winter comes, where do things go? When winter comes what happens to the plants and flowers? And what happens to mice? And all of the creatures that run around during the other seasons? And in When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan, you have a sweet rhyming story about where things go and what happens to the plants and such when, “when winter comes and the cold wind blows.” Susan Gaber has these delightful illustrations. You are able to read them along with the […]

Two more books that will tie up your day with reading

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Making a Friend is a clever pun. As Beaver is good at making a lot of things (slides, stripy socks, a lodge) but he is not good at making friends. Oh, he tries, but it never works out as he hopes. Though I would say the others are not really appreciating the attempts. A skunk should appreciate flowers (who does not like flowers?) and the why is the porcupine sad over the popped balloons? But yes, waking owl during the day is a bit more […]

Dashing through the snow….and other activities

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Snow by Walter de la Mare is part of the Four Seasons series that he and Carolina Rabei (as illustrator) have created. Rabei’s illustrations are the main reason I enjoyed this book. While I read the hardcover edition, it also comes in a board book format and in paper as well (though that edition might not be available currently). The illustrations are clever and the right amount of color or lack thereof. It is for the Christmas holiday as we do see that jolly ol’ […]

Retro artwork and ageless story

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Small Walt and Mo the Tow is a nice story about friends, the fun and dangers of snow and helping each other out. It is also politically correct as Mo’s driver is a woman of color. However, this is not “in your face” as it is presented as very natural.  That is refreshing to have the story just “be” and not have to make a big point over “hey we’ve a woman driver over here! And oh yeah, she’s black, too.” However, Elizbeth Verdick falls […]

Celebrate the sights, sounds, and smells of the season

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After my review of A Parade of Elephants, I was a little nervous about reading Winter is Here. However, I was excited to see that while I am not seeing his classic illustrations there is a story here. Of course, I still think this would be better as a board book then a normal sized picture book but could see myself buying this for a gift. Laura Dronzek is the reason the classic illustrations of Kevin Henkes are not there as she is the illustrator […]

That’s one of the things stories and books can do, they can make more than one time possible at once.

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I was wondering going into this novel whether or not it was a continuation of the characters and stories of Autumn. And it isn’t. Autumn is the first of the Ali Smith novels I have really enjoyed. I have maintained the ideas that a)she’s a very good writer, b) she’s going to be considerably important in years to come, c) I am deeply interested in her work, and d) she will win a Booker Prize before too long. Perhaps this is it. Autumn was better […]



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