Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“We don’t know the people who live across the street or on either side of us.”

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

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cbr11bingo – Remix!  Zuri Benitez is of the rambling Benitez family. They live in Brooklyn – in Bushwick – in a one bedroom apartment where she and her four siblings share the living room as their bedroom, where block parties are regular and boisterous, and where she and her family and the neighborhood take care of each other. This is why Zuri views the new family across the street with suspicion. When a developer bought the property and revamped it into a flashy new home, […]

“One should not make a pet out of a wild beast.”

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

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cbrbingo11 – Cannonballer says! In the kingdom of Harding, heir to the throne Emory must go through the ritual every king has had to take on before being granted the crown: slay a dragon, rescue the damsel captive there, and make her your queen.  Emory conquers this task as he conquers all of his conquests, and the young woman he takes back to his kingdom is like the ones who came before: no memory of her past or her time in the dragon’s lair, nameless, […]

When Mothers Do Curses

As Old As Time by Liz Braswell

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Wow. This was a great re-telling of “Beauty and the Beast”. I loved the whole idea behind this book with the great enchantress from the stories being Belle’s mother. And reading about magical people who were afraid since they were being persecuted by those who were “normal”. The development of Belle and the Beast was great and I actually bought that Belle fell in love with him in this one. They were a great duo. Braswell changes things up a bit with the introduction of […]

Fairies, A Forest, and A Knight

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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Well there was just too much happening in this standalone. I loved the idea of a world where fairies stand alongside humans and magic is real. It was also interesting to hear how our history and music stayed the same so you get some funny pop-culture comments here and there. That said, Hazel and Ben were exhausting. Both of them obsessed with being in love and I just wanted to say good grief none of this is going to matter when you are older. I […]

“I can’t help but sense that desperation is right around the bend.”

Dry by Shusterman, Neal

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cbr11bingo – Listicle! (Dry is featured on this list of 2018 must-read teen fiction) Drought isn’t a new phenomenon to Alyssa or anyone else in California, but the ante is upped when one day the taps run dry.  Quickly termed the “tap-out” by local news, it doesn’t take long for stores to run out of bottled water and for people to start freaking out.  In this environmental disaster book, Neal Shusterman and his son Jarrod explore the possibilities of how chaos could unfold in California […]

“Nothing was worse than someone wanting you to talk when the words you needed to say hadn’t even been invented yet.”

Far From the Tree by Benway, Robin

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cbr11bingo – Award Winner! Grace’s steady life is shattered during her high school junior year when she becomes pregnant. Her previously reliable boyfriend dumps her and removes himself from any rights to the child, and her parents are on eggshells around her.  She decides to give the baby up for adoption, which in some ways makes sense: she herself was adopted by her parents, and maybe her baby, who she nicknames Peach (the size the baby was when she realized she was pregnant), will be […]



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