Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not just surviving, but thriving

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

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The Color Purple felt intimidating before I started it- it won Alice Walker the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and it was adapted into a much loved and lauded film that launched Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg’s careers to the next level. (I have seen stills of the film but have yet to watch it). Additionally, I’ve been lumping it in mentally with Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, which was beautiful writing but tough subject matter (the ‘colour in the title’ wasn’t helping me either). From […]

Moo Cow!

My First Highland Cow by Melanie Mitchell

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There are thirty-eight words in My First Highland Cow by Melanie Mitchell. Yes, I counted (though this does not include the “extras” like title, author or the publisher’s name, the categories or other “business end” items).  Melanie Mitchell, however, packed a lot into it. It is a fun first book about Highland Cows for the “wee ones.” Due late July 2023, Mitchell’s board book is a fun way to show cows in a not black and white setting. Everything about this book is cute and […]

Fried Chicken and “Wild Geese”

Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 8 by Rachel Kramer Bussel,

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I read erotica for several reasons. One of them is political. Accusations of pornography are thrown around when pushing back against the (small) gains in representation made by BIPOC and queer authors. Side note, a friend told me the parent group at her kids’ school had to argue with someone who claimed the description of a child eating a mango was pornographic. The reasonable parents prevailed, but in too many communities the unreasonable people are succeeding. I’m happy to frustrate a bigot by supporting my […]

A friendship book made by friends, for friends

I Don’t Care by Julie Fogliano,

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I Don’t Care is a clever book. This is not just because of the text of Julie Fogliano, but how it came to be. The illustrators, Molly Idle and Juana Martinez-Neal are best friends, and they knew they had to do the art together. An afterwards (a small section at the end that you should read as well) shows how Molly thought since they lived 20 minutes from each other, easy peasy, right? Well, then Juana moved to Connecticut and the back and forth in […]

Remember when you call a demon, make sure you dial the number right.

The Ojja-Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio

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Disclaimer: This is a HarperCollins book. The Ojja-Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio is an interesting book about representation and friendship. There is the usual bully vs. the “others” with a little supernatural (okay a lot of supernatural) added to the mix. There maybe is a bit too much cliched story arc for the adult reader but the at least 10 and up crowd will have fun. Though I have not watched it, this seems like a younger Stranger Things with a modern setting. We follow two girls, […]

Action! It’s Grass Time!

In A Patch of Grass by Fran Hodgkins

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In March 2023 In A Patch of Grass will be published. Hopefully. Because if it does not, I will be most upset at the publisher W W Norton! This science book by Fran Hodgkins and illustrated by Dan Tavis (fantastically I might add) is a must have. You learn about spiders, worms, slugs, even a wuff! Set as a movie production, Stephen Spielbug directs a not always the most cooperative cast (Robin calls out sick, worm misses its cue, slug tries to clean up its […]



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