Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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And here I always wanted a snow day

When the Schools Shut Down : A Young Girl's Story of Virginia's "Lost Generation" and the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Decision by Yolanda Gladden

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While When the Schools Shut Down : A Young Girl’s Story of Virginia’s “Lost Generation” and the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Decision is a slightly romantic telling of the several years after Brown v. Board of Education when one community went out of their way to make sure their black citizen did not get an education, this book is still strongly showing how much people want to learn, and how far they are willing to go to get what they want. After the decision […]

Presenting Who You Are

Who Are Your People? by Bakari Sellers

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The age-old question of Who Are Your People? is asked in Bakari Sellers picture book. And the answer is not what you would expect. The narrator does not say the people are from Kenya or South Africa. OR that they are Irish or Icelandic. They do not even go general and say from Asia or South America. The voice goes to a more broadly specific place. The place the characters are from are from a long line of people who fought, struggled, quietly sat instead […]

When you think the review says “poet witch” but is actually “poet to watch” you know there might just be magic

The Collection Plate: Poems by Kendra Allen

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cbr13bingo  Flora    Some of the poems in The Collection Plate: Poems by Kendra Allen are straight forward, while others have a more poetic way of speaking. Some poems deal with death, some with life, some with God, some with mothers and some all of that and more all at once. The experiences Allen has had in their life as a person of color and just as a person period, is laid out for all the experience along with them. To say Allen is not […]

While I don’t know it all, I know good poetry, so get on the ball and read y’all!

Whale Day: And Other Poems by Billy Collins

Born in a Second Language by Akosua Afiriyie-Hwedie

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cbr13bingo UnCannon I think we should teach poetry in school but not just the “classics” or what “academics” like, but stuff you WANT to read. Many kids (and adults) hate poetry because it is “girly” (yes, some I was taught was “flowery/girly”) or because is dull (yes, I have fallen asleep more than once while reading some my teacher(s) was forcing on me). And yes, there can be too many rhymes (not that I am complaining mind you, some of my favorites rhymed, but if […]

One hell of a party….and the history that made it

The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker

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The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker is not an easy read. There is a lot to comprehend, organize and process.  This is the “other side” of the Black Panthers story. What most of us know about the group is what Hollywood and the media told us. The portrayal as a violent group for black rights is only a small piece of the puzzle. Yes, they felt violence would be a better way to win equality, rights, and human decency than […]

Lady Day Lived the Blues

 Blues for Lady Day: The Story of Billie Holiday by Paola Parisi,

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I know a few Billie Holiday songs. Not enough to say “X, Y and Z are hers” but if they are on the radio or such, I can say, “Sounds like her” and I am usually right. I recently learned a bit about her (well on song) and wanted to read more. When I saw that there was a graphic novel biography done by Paola Parisi, I thought I probably should find it. And yesterday, it was being placed in the “to be return to […]



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