Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

This Family Tree is a Wreath!

Katie Mulholland by Catherine Cookson

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Katie Mulholland, the young scullery maid at a grand house, finds her life thrown into a tailspin when she is assaulted by her employer on the night of his engagement ball. I have an inexplicable love of old mass market paperbacks – especially pulpy books that originally sold for about a dollar that I never heard of before. So when my friend informed me that my local bookstore had an entire subterranean secondhand section, I obviously set off in search of most obscure, yellowing books […]

I need more room for more of the illustrations.

Everybody Has a Body by Molli Jackson Ehlert

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    I like books about body positivity. And Everybody Has a Body tries to tap into this theme. Now, they tend to run the route of body “neutral” instead of being a true “positivity” book. Molli Jackson Ehlert talks to us in frank terms. You are tall. Or short. Or thin. Or hairy. Or in a wheelchair. Or have a limb difference. Or are bald. Or so much more. There are all types of bodies and they just are. And all these bodies can […]

A lovely story about a tough situation

Only for a Little While by Gabriela Orozco Beltg

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When I find a book about a subject I know little about, I always wonder, “Is there really a need for it?” And then I read the book. Sometimes I read it and think, no we didn’t need it. Or sometimes I think we do need it, but I feel other books have handled the theme better. But with Only for a Little While by Gabriela Orozco Belt. I figured, we do need it, as I was thinking I know there are books out there, […]

I think I need to give this a second chance

Taking to Water by Jennifer Conlon

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This book of poetry reads mostly like a prose fiction story, but not as prose poetry (there is a subtle difference). I am assuming that Taking to Water by Jennifer Conlon is fiction, however, as the protagonist of the book is a woman disliking themselves, their body, their gender and all that is associated with that, and I have not found anything that said Conlon went on that journey themselves (please let me know if I have interpreted this incorrectly). The themes of water (positive, […]

This is ONLY for Aunts, Uncle, and their nieces and nephews

Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles by Jake Gyllenhaal and Greta Caruso

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I am an Aunt of two or three dozen kids (three biological nephews and goodness knows how many have been “adopted” over the years). And I know two things: one the aunt must be cool, and  two, they must have a little discipline otherwise the two of us (or four when all the nephews were present) will just totally destroy the place! And in the picture book the Secret Society of Aunts & Uncles they know how to be a good aunt and/or uncle. But […]

Faith and fun

Zain’s Super Friday by Henna Khan

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While Zain’s Super Friday is not my all time favorite book, it is up there for two reasons. The first is that it has at least two layers and the second is that it deals with representation in a positive manner.   Zain is a young boy who is ready to go-go-go! on Friday morning. However, his father must work, and when he is done, it is time for prayers. We are exposed to the Muslim culture in a positive way. There is no racism, just […]



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