Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Never too late to educate

Blues Boy: The B. B. King Story by Alice Faye Duncan and Carl Joe Williams

I Am the River: Sarah E. Ray and the Bob-Lo Boat by Patricia Lee Gauch, Leah Henderson and Kristle Marshall

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It might be the middle of February, but it is never too late to start reading about Black History. My favorite historical stories are about people we do not know a lot about. Or if we do know them, they are not huge. That is why when I saw Blues Boy: The B. B. King Story by Alice Faye Duncan, and illustrator Carl Joe Williams (available but read via an online reader) I almost did not read it. I mean, BB King is cool, don’t […]

More than the black-veiled image at her husbands funeral

Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Corretta Scott King by Alice Faye Duncan

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I knew a little bit about Coretta Scott King’s story, but mostly how it related to her husband Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And when I saw Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King I was wondering how much her life would be shaped by her husbands? How much would there be about her and not just “oh she was this really famous guy’s wife and mother of his children?” Well, there is a lot about her. More than I really would have […]

Sing those Yellow Dog Blues

Yellow Dog Blues by Alice Faye Duncan

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You just have to read this book to understand what is going on in this book. I can summarize that it is about a young boy looking for his dog and all the crazy, wonderful things that happen along the way. This is a “boogie-woogie” journey (according to the publisher description). Alice Faye Duncan and Chris Raschka made Yellow Dog Blues just plan a pleasant book, funny, and terribly charming. The publisher description also has this: With swinging free verse and stunning hand-stitched art, Yellow […]

We are Family

Just Like a Mama by Alice Faye Duncan

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When I first read the title, I thought it said Just Like Mama. No “A.” And that for certain changes the meaning of the book. Just Like a Mama is a modern story about the things a “not mom” does to help the young child of the story. Mama Rose might not be the “actual” mother, but she loves the narrator (Carol Olivia Clementine), makes her do her chores, tells her to eat her vegetables and all the other things mamas do. Carol goes through […]

Life of a Poet: June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000

A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan

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A Song for Gwendolyn Brooks by Alice Faye Duncan is probably my favorite read of 2019 so far. Not only do you get a woman of color presented, you get one who might not be familiar to everyone. She is a poet I knew about but not familiar with. And unlike say, Maya Angelou, there does not seem to be a lot out there about her and especially not for the younger crowd. Therefore, this is a pleasant addition to the biographies of both black […]



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