Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“What is a game? It’s tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. It’s a possibility of infinite rebirth.”

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a pure delight. The best book I have read all year, and now one of my favorites ever. Zevin is the author of one of my other favorite books of all time, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, I was so excited to hear about this book especially when I discovered it was about video game designers. The story starts when Sam and Sadie meet in a play area in a hospital. Sam is undergoing treatment […]

More Memoir-Manifestos, please!

All Boys Aren't Blue by George Matthew Johnson

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CBR Bingo – Bodies, because this book is all about how the author came to accept his identity – his life in his queer, Black body – it’s a letter of acceptance for everyone who might need it, which includes all of us. I loved this memoir – this vulnerable, beating heart of a book – which explores the life of a young, queer Black man growing up in New Jersey. Johnson describes how he came to accept himself even as he struggles with two […]

A rose in the concrete

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

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CBR Bingo – Snake, thanks to Officer Cruise and others like him that cannot understand their fear is not more important than the lives they take 16 year old Starr Carter is a master at code-switching. Growing up in Garden Heights, she is used to her community being full of lively characters full of love who look out for one another amidst gun shots and drug deals. When she is at home, she feels slightly isolated from this community, who sees her as an outsider […]

Remember the connection

Remember by Joy Harjo

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Joy Harjo’s poem is adapted in this picture book format. Remember is a simple and straightforward story about family, nature, and themselves. The illustrations are richly created by Michaela Goade. Both author and illustrator were inspired and influenced by their own cultural backgrounds (of the Mvskoke Nation and Tlingit culture respectfully). The story itself we know, but it is still powerful and thoughtful. But for me, the illustrations of Goade were what made the book pop. The images are deep, colorfully, busy details, something that […]

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

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West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge is a charming historical fiction. It is the coming of age story of “Woody Nickel”, a Dust Bowl orphan from the Texas Panhandle who travels cross country with a pair of giraffes. Rutledge, while researching a book on the San Diego Zoo, learned about two giraffes who arrived in NYC on a boat that barely survived the extremely destructive 1938 Long Island hurricane. The giraffes then traveled cross country to their new home at the San Diego Zoo. Using […]

Growing up is hard to do

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

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3.5 stars Official book description: Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father–despite his hard-won citizenship–Lily and Kath risk everything to […]



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