Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Of course, after building up this title, you will need to wait until April 2026 for reading

Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp (A Picture Book) by Minoru Tonai, Jolene Gutiérrez, and Chris Sasaki

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When you read as many picture books as I do, once in a while one of two things (or both) can happen. The first is you think you’ve read it before (or at least a sample) or things start to feel similar due to similar subjects. A subject I am interested in are the Japanese-American internment camps from World War II.  This is partly because I have family who is Japanese-American and when I realized this could be them it made it personal (I know […]

Down With The Miss Vicky’s!

Down with Lime Books!: A Story about Book Banning by Jan Zauzmer

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Miss Vicky might tell us Down with Lime Books! But what she does not realize is that the kids like lime books, and pink and purple, and blue, and yellow and read…. I mean red. Yes they love to read them all. Of course, this humorous look at book banning is silly and a bit tongue in cheek, but Down with Lime Books!: A Story about Book Banning by Jan Zauzmer and Blanca Millán is about a serious subject As mentioned, the character Miss Vicky […]

In a distant country, war is affecting Theo in his safe home

Planting Sunshine by Andrée Poulin

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From the moment I saw the cover of Planting Sunshine (due Feb 2026, read via an online reader) it had really gotten under my skin. At first, I loved it; then I didn’t; then I felt it and hoped I would like the story beyond it. For sure this image gives one an emotional response. And to say that Andrée Poulin’s text also gives an emotional response, is an understatement. They combine poetry, graphic novel formats and novels, with contemporary events. The “Why” of a […]

Two pieces of history around the world

A Place Called Galveston by Andrea Shapiro

Claudia Said Sí!: The Story of Mexico's First Woman President by Deborah Bodin Cohen, Kerry Olitzky and Carlos Vélez Aguilera

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Recently I mentioned to a friend of mine that there are a lot of political titles happening, even in the children’s genres. And most are slanted seriously and obviously in one direction or the other. Therefore, when I find something that is not political, but could fit current events I try to pay attention.  Two of those books are A Place Called Galveston by Andrea Shapiro and illustrator Valerya Milovanova, as well as Claudia Said Sí!: The Story of Mexico’s First Woman President by Deborah […]

Young rebels

Little Rebels by Yuyi Morales

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Cbr17bingo Citizen (as a citizen it is our duty to help the community we are a citizen of and we are a citizen of the Earth, the land, the people on it). To be honest, I do not remember if I requested the reader’s copy of Little Rebels by Yuyi Morales or if it was just sent to me, but either way I got a lovely surprise when it arrived at my work via the USPS mail. It is due in early September 2025, therefore […]

I really got into Leila Boukarim books!

Mariam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope by Leila Boukarim

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Leila Boukarim’s Mariam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope is not a biography about a “woman done good.” Or an Arab woman “done good” or even an Arab refugee woman “done good.” It is all those things and much more. It shows that even if you were born into a situation where all you knew was being a refugee or if you have many obstacles to overcome, you can make your dream come true. Of course, that is a […]



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