Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About NTE

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Rambling around the internet; helping niblings maneuver through college, learn their ABC's and deal with middle school (usually all on the same day); reading to remain alive.

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“Do you have sadness in your heart for the world that can never be & sensible shoes? You’ve got weltschmerz.” *

Roxy by Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman

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I don’t think I’ve ever positively reviewed a book I haven’t finished, but this here’s going to be the first. Because I’m the kind of person who can’t rewatch the Scott’s Tots episode of The Office, and who cringes just thinking about that one scene in On His Way to the Wedding (by Julia Quinn: Spoiler for a Bridgerton book ahead) when Gregory professes his love in front of all of London, and … it does not go well.  I just sometimes get to a point […]

“Our mothers are our first teachers, and we teach others the same lessons we learn from them.” Caroline Kennedy

Mama Needs A Minute by Nicole Sloan

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Let’s talk about bodily autonomy, caregiving (specific to this book, it’s mothering, but it’s not always), and – if you’re a caregiver of a small child especially, why you laughed out loud at the beginning of this sentence. It’s because MOST small children have zero concept of personal space or bodily autonomy, have no problem being attached to their favorite humans 24/7, and would be deeply offended by the idea that their favorite humans might feel differently. Enter Mama Needs A Minute by Nicole Sloan. […]

Making Space for Mistakes

How to Wear A Sari by Darshana Khiani Illustrations by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff

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I know literally zero things about Saris. I think they’re beautiful, and I admire their beauty from afar, but the closest I’ve ever gotten to one was my childhood best friend’s mother, who always looked gorgeous & ready for whatever kind of day she might encounter, when I would go to their house after school. Mistakes though? Trying something and messing it up? More than once? Sometimes in a really big & embarrassing way? Well I’m a professional at that, friends. And you all should […]

“Sylvia did reach her dream of becoming a ballerina. And it all started with one determined girl with one library book from one bookmobile.”

Ready to Fly: How Sylvia Townsend Became The Bookmobile Ballerina by Lea Lyon & A. LaFaye, Illustrations by Jessica Gibson

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We’re gonna start off today’s review by (potentially? I don’t think I’ve talked about this here before) learning a new thing about NTE: I used to be a dancer. Before my body decided that anything that required even standing was completely out of the question (so from age 3-15, basically), being a dancer was a major part of my identity. I danced five days a week – tap, ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, & pointe. Pointe was – by far – my worst class (I had […]

“Whichever story you believe, my mother, Chang’e, became immortal. As did I.”

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

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A child of the Moon Goddess, and an immortal herself,  Xingyin grows up on the moon, with just her mother & their family servant/long time companion. For the most part, the three of them are happy, if isolated. Xingyin senses a grief in her mother that she can’t quite explain, and within herself she feels a growing sense to reach out … for something more. She can’t label it, and her mother has warned her against reaching for it, but the pull towards that other […]

Two Entirely Different Kinds of Pirates

Pirate Queen: A Story of Zheng Yi Sao by Helaine Becker, Ill. Liz Wong

What Isabella Wanted: Isabella Stewart Gardner Builds a Museum by Candace Fleming Ill. Matthew Cordell

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But Fortune cares nothing for your dreams. She takes up your life in her cup and shakes it so hard your teeth rattle in your head and your heart roars like a dragon in your chest. Then she throws the bones onto her table of lacquer and jade. Your fate is sealed. – Helaine Becker, Pirate Queen: A Story of Zheng Yi Sao Did I know much about Zheng Yi Sao before I read this? Only that she existed, reigned over the South China Sea […]



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