Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“we all got thick skin, but we still gotta let people in.”

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

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Jonny has to get home to the reservation he grew up on for his stepfather’s funeral. What transpires in this book is almost a near stream-of-consciousness retelling of the moments that have brought him to this moment in his life. Without a care for time or linearity, Jonny invites us into his life to show us his memories and to highlight the love he has felt for his family, his friends, and for himself. One thing you should know going in to this book is […]

“Deafness is not an affliction. The only thing it stops me from doing is hearing.”

Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte

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To be honest, I think I was primarily looking for an easy, short book when I picked up Show Me a Sign by Ann Clare LeZotte. I first saw it on NPR’s Best Books of 2020 List. I enjoy the occasional children’s novel, and the history of a deaf community on Martha’s Vineyard was intriguing, so I picked it up. My knowledge of Martha’s Vineyard is not great but I still feel some connection to it. We took a memorable family trip there with my whole family when […]

Rocky the Owl

The Christmas Owl: Based on the True Story of a Little Owl Named Rockefeller by Gideon Sterer

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When I was trying to locate The Christmas Owl: Based on the True Story of a Little Owl Named Rockefeller (and I wished they kept that name instead of shortening it to Rocky) I noticed there were six or seven different books about this owl who learns what Christmas means. I had not even heard of the real story last year, let alone Gideon Sterer and Ellen Kalish’s book. And here by accident I learn there are not one but half a dozen books about […]

This isn’t your father’s Jungle Book…..

Sengi and Tembo by G. Falco

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FYI: I have some not fort his book images becaue I can and I like them! If Animal Farm and A Tale of Two Cities created a book together, the graphic novel Sengi and Tembo by G. Falco (or Giuseppe Falco) probably would be the results. Rebellion, status quo, life, and the ultimate equalizer death all come together in a dark, somewhat comedic commentary on not only how things should be but can become. Sengi is a young mouse that quickly learns the dangers of […]

Gain – Richard Powers (1998)

Gain by Richard Powers

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-So if I were recommending this book, it would come with a warning that a fair amount of this book is rage-inducing and saddening. We have two competing narratives. In one, we get the history of the development of a soap company beginning in the mid-19th century in the Northeast through the late 1990s. This begins with two brothers coming up with a process to mass-produce soap, to reduce the oily residue from glycerine, and then through the Gilded Age’s development of corporations (in the […]

Over 100 million saved and counting

Fred & Marjorie: A Doctor, a Dog, and the Discovery of Insulin by Deborah Kerbel

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Fred & Marjorie: A Doctor, a Dog, and the Discovery of Insulin by Deborah Kerbel and illustrated by Angela Poon is a graphic novel that is based on the true events that lead to the discovery that would easily save over 100 million people: insulin. There is simple text showing the events of the early 1920s that made it possible to treat type 1 diabetes, or Juvenile diabetes. There are the images that show that before the early 1920s the treatment was starvation and therefore, […]



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