Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Reverso Poems

Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths by Marilyn Singer and Josée Masse

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer and Josée Masse

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From Marilyn Singer: A reverso is a poem with two halves. In a reverso, the second half reverses the lines from the first half, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization — and it has to say something completely different from the first half. And they claim the right to say they invented the form. Okay, I’m a smidgen skeptical as you’re telling me in the thousands of years of poetry she is the first to think of this? But, you know what? Who cares […]

Haiku for is for the birds

Whoo-Ku Haiku: A Great Horned Owl Story by Maria Gianferrari and Jonathan D. Voss

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The picture book Whoo-Ku Haiku: A Great Horned Owl Story by Maria Gianferrari and illustrator Jonathan D. Voss is realistic (it talks about how the owl eats, is a bird of prey) but is also age appropriate. Which I would say ranges from a strong age of 5 and up. It can be for older students/children and of course, adults, though the picture book format might turn off the older readers. The way the story is written is in multiple haikus strung together to make […]

Poems and animals, poetry galore. Read the first and you’ll want more

If Pets Wrote Poems: A Parody Collection by Susan Johnston Taylor and Sandie Sonke

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Reading poetry used to be a fun pastime for me. However, recently, I have not been able to find a poet or collection that speaks to me. Things feel overly complicated, too lofty, too trying to be “deep and meaningful” with great subjects, but fall flat in the understanding of what the heck is being talked about. Sometimes I just need Red Fish, Blue Fish, or “Crowded Tub” by Shel Silverstein. Sometimes I like rhymes like that, but other times I just want a nice, […]

“For as long as the axe has been in our hands, we have used it to kill.”

Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder by Rachel McCarthy James

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Much like the wheel, the boat, and the telephone, the axe is a transformative piece of technology—one that has been with us since prehistory. (I did not know we had telephones in prehistory, but hey-you learn something new everyday.) And to this day, even if its everyday use has been supplanted by newer technology, the axe is used as a murder weapon. From the first axe over a half a million years ago, to Lizzie Borden, to So I Married An Axe Murderer, Rachel McCarthy […]

Hitchcock Deserves Better

Rear Window: The Making of a Hitchcock Masterpiece in the Hollywood Golden Age by Jennifer O'Callaghan

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is an unimpeachable masterpiece, as compelling to viewers today as it was seventy years ago when it was first released. With two iconic stars, an ingenious premise, and the guidance of the Master of Suspense himself, it feels like the kind of film that would make for a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of it’s making. Unfortunately, Jennifer O’Callaghan’s attempt at the subject is not such a book. For one thing, you would probably not believe how little of this book, which includes […]

A Great Literary Love

Centennial Reflections by American Writers by Susan Shillinglaw, Ed.

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My father loves John Steinbeck and he passed that love down to me. Years ago, he and I went to the John Steinbeck festival at the Steinbeck Center in Salinas. While there, I bought Centennial Reflections by American Writers, edited by Susan Shillinglaw. This small book is a collection of writings by various authors about Steinbeck and his impact on them and the literary world. In terms of my own relationship with Steinbeck, I’ve read many of his works, including his masterpiece the Grapes of […]



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