Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

An account of life

I Won't Pretend These Missiles Are Stars: Life in Iran During the 12-Day War by Tehran's Cartoonist Collective / The Cartoonist Collective

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The short stories inside of I Won’t Pretend These Missiles Are Stars by Tehran’s Cartoonist Collective deal with the weeks of war between Israel and Iran. Set in Iran, each of the people giving their story has a different way of dealing or not dealing with the events around them. Some worry about the big picture (death), others worry that they never got to wear the special outfit to their presentation. Each author has a unique way of showing what was and wasn’t important to […]

If anyone can, a magical Yeti… might

Penny and the Yeti b by Jimmy Gaspero and Amber Akin

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When April 2026 comes, you readers of this review will have a plethora of choices. And I hope one of those is Penny and the Yeti by Jimmy Gaspero and Amber Akin. Read via an online reader copy, I plan on finding a finished copy as there are some things I think might make more sense if I can physically hold a book in hand and explore this deceptively simple seeming story. This book is not perfect. Which, yes, is an odd thing to start […]

The jokes are not the only thing landing punches

Karate Prom by Kyle Starks

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Okay, Karate Prom by Kyle Starks was funny, with the loving and the punching and the bowling. If I have to describe it in one sentence, it is if Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, 1990s teen Nickelodeon, and Scooby Doo made a book baby. Never have I ever thought that ninjas, crazy ex-crime-girlfriends-currently helping her brother run the family-cartelle, teenagers, bowling and a high school prom would be so funny. By the end two things happened that I was very excited about (I won’t say exactly […]

The story in grandmother’s attic

A Family Secret by Eric Heuvel and Lorraine T. Miller

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Due to the familiarity of the story presented in A Family Secret by Eric Heuvel and Lorraine T. Miller (Translator), things were not as impactful as it could have been. However, if this is your first or near first time reading a WWII / Holocaust story, it is good. The images are busy, so take your time with them. The ending is a smidgen idealistic, but it’s also a nice touch. I am now curious about the sequel / companion graphic novel. I would have […]

Too far out for my tastes

Oracles by Olivia Sullivan

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As I read the words of Olivia Sullivan on the pages of the graphic novel, Oracles, I heard the Beatnik standing on the coffee house stage making their words bubble out. I saw the slam poet gazing out into a darkened crowd. There was a spotlight in my brain that shone brightly on the poet freeversing.  And while I like all of that , this book was not for me. However, if you enjoy a slightly nonconcrete writing style or free verse prose, with literary […]

A Timely and Moving Tale About a Recent Slice of History

Wake Now In the Fire: A Story of Censorship, Action, Love, and Hope by Jarrett Dapier

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An ordinary day at Curtis Technical High School in 2013 sparks a movement when teachers are ordered to remove Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi from the shelves as it has been decided that the book is no longer allowed in classrooms or libraries at Chicago Public Schools.  But the students aren’t willing to let that be the last word on things and begin to push back.  Even as they struggle to with other things that are going on in their lives, the students are unwilling to […]



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