Cannonball Read 10

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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ElCicco

Married, mom of two, history PhD, feminist. I've been participating in Cannonball Read since CBR4. I love to read, and writing reviews keeps me from reading without thinking. I feel like I owe it to the authors who entertain me to savor their creations. It's like slowing down and enjoying a delicious meal instead of bolting your food.

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ElCicco's Reviews:

The Greatest Generation

A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women who Desegregated America’s Schools by Rachel Devlin

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Perhaps you have heard of Ruby Bridges, the little girl shown at right. She was the first African American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in 1960. But have you heard of Lucile Bluford or Ada Lois Sipuel? What about Marguerite Carr, Karla Galarza, Barbara Johns, Betta Bowman and Elaine Chustz? In Rachel Devlin’s A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women who Desegregated America’s Schools, we have an outstanding history of the unsung heroes of the American Civil Rights movement — the young women and girls who sued school districts and volunteered to be the “firsts” […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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6/22/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:26 |

I Am Somebody

The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil

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In 1994, when Clemantine Wamariya was 6 years old, she and her 15-year-old sister Claire had to leave their family in Kigali, Rwanda, due to the “conflict.” The two girls spent the next 6 years as refugees, traveling through 7 African countries, having to learn new languages and find the means to survive, not knowing whether their parents and younger siblings were alive. In The Girl Who Smiled Beads, Clemantine Wamariya tries to come to terms not only with the upheaval and trauma of her childhood as a refugee but also with the new life she has in the United […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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6/6/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:25 |

A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

The Surface Breaks: A Reimagining of The Little Mermaid by Louise O’Neill

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The Surface Breaks: A Reimagining of The Little Mermaid is a wonderful feminist take on the popular fairy tale. Louise O’Neill stays very close to Hans Christian Anderson’s original classic story (as opposed to the Disney version), but gives her little mermaid (Gaia/Muirgen) a much darker back story and provides a fuller description of the world that exists under the sea. Little mermaid Gaia has grown up under a misogynistic patriarchal system, where women are valued for their beauty alone. Gaia and her five sisters are daughters of the brutish Sea King and the lovely mermaid Muireann, who disappeared on […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/29/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:24 |

Hope is the thing with feathers

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

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This Newberry Medal winning YA novel is a fantasy/fairy tale about hope’s triumph over sorrow. Kelly Barnhill writes about a world populated by witches, dragons, monsters, and humans. She writes of bogs, forests, and towns separated by fear and magic. In this world, one town in particular, the Protectorate, engages in a terrible human sacrifice every year, wherein the youngest child in town is left in the forest as a tribute to an evil witch. It is an age old practice, perpetuated by the town Elders with support from the Sisters of the Star who act as military/police. No one […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/25/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:23 |

A Witch with a Badge

Black Magick Volume I: Awakening by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott

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Black Magick is a really well written and beautifully drawn series by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott featuring a police detective named Rowan Black who, unbeknownst to her colleagues, is also a witch. In Volume I of what I can only hope will be a long running series, Rucka and Scott introduce the reader to Rowan, some of her fellow Portsmouth police officers, and another witch named Alex, who is also Rowan’s friend/lover. The story opens with a Wiccan ritual in the woods interrupted by Rowan’s phone. Duty calls, and Rowan is off to the scene of a hostage situation. […]

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Purchase Black Magick Volume I: Awakening by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott or any item from amazon via our link.

Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/20/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:22 |

Great story for the middle school introverts

Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson

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This graphic novel, pitched for 8-12 year olds, is the story of Emmie, a middle schooler who is so shy and introverted that she feels invisible. It’s also the story of Katie, who is sort of the anti-Emmie, and what happens when Emmie and Katie’s worlds collide. Emmie and Katie take turns narrating this story, which takes place over the course of a day at school. Emmie is the youngest of three kids, and the only one still living at home with her parents. Emmie describes herself as someone who really doesn’t stand out. She’s not a brilliant student like […]

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Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/19/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:21 |

YA Lit, Grief and Trauma: Part II

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura

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I Kill Giants is a graphic novel geared toward teens and young adults. It was nominated for and/or won a number of prestigious awards, including an Eisner. Much like the last book I reviewed (I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter), this story centers on the effect of grief and trauma on a young girl. In this case, our protagonist is 5th grader Barbara Thorson, a girl who revels in Dungeons and Dragons, has no friends amongst her peers, is frequently bullied, is defiant toward authority, and who is preparing herself for battle.  The character of Barbara is both written […]

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Purchase I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura or any item from amazon via our link.

Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/19/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:20 |

Tackling Grief and Mental Health Issues in YA Lit

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

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But how do we live with these secrets locked within us? National Book Award nominee I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is a powerful young adult novel that deals with the very real trauma of grief and depression. Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes, our narrator, lives in Chicago with her parents and older sister Olga, who has just died in a tragic accident. Julia is struggling with feelings of grief, guilt and anger, and her already fragile relationship with her parents is at the breaking point. Julia’s desire to find out the truth about who her perfect older sister really was, […]

Help Support Cannonball Read

Purchase I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez or any item from amazon via our link.

Funds raised are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name.

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5/17/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:19 |


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