Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Strength and kindness of the dragon

Powerful Like a Dragon by Christopher Cheng

by Leave a Comment

When it comes to history, picture books are a great way to introduce the subject. You are able to present the situation and/or issue and yet, keep it so that it gives the point of view without being “too much” and it allows all ages to be exposed to concepts, ideas and events. With Powerful Like a Dragon by Christopher Cheng and illustrator Jacqueline Tam we turn to 1941 Hong Kong during World War II and the Japanese invasion of the city. The story is […]

1998, Colombo. The Sri Lankan Civil War is raging and there is Kavi

I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera

by Leave a Comment

There are a few spoilers below about the book I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera.   Overall it is an interesting book. It had a few bumps for my personal tastes, but for the aged 10 and up crowd (and me back then) it is a will love title. The themes are mostly familiar, but the setting is fresh. You should read the afterwards and author notes for the extra background, information and author commentary. The format while prose poetry flows as full prose, the […]

She climbed and protected so we all could enjoy

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita Yasuda and Yuko Shimizu

by Leave a Comment

I am not a sports person. I am not an outdoors person. I am not a hiking person. And I am certainly not a mountain climbing person. I am a person who will read a book outside (but it’s a porch and there better be running water/bathroom and cool drinks nearby). And I am a person who will read a book about someone who is an outdoors, sporty, mountain climbing person. And  Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita […]

Building bridges

The Paper Bridge by Joelle Veyrenc and Seng Soun Ratanavanh

by Leave a Comment

One morning I opened my emails to find a Floris Books email saying I was a winner from the Grabbing a Galley from the Publishers Weekly campaign and there was an online link that was in the email. It hadn’t been that long since I had entered, but I had forgotten the titles I had hoped for. Therefore it was Christmas and I was opening the book present I always love getting. This one was the picture book, The Paper Bridge created by Joelle Veyrenc, […]

From Child to Political Prisoner

The Boy from Clearwater Book One by Yu Pei-Yun

by Leave a Comment

The Boy from Clearwater Book One by Yu Pei-Yun, illustrated by Zhou Jian-Xin and translated by Lin King is a memoir that leans towards the poetic. The showing of things  could have been more graphic (as there were beatings, execution, etc), but is not necessarily lacking as you understand what is happening. The two parts (the early years before 1950 and then the ten years after 1950) are nicely split up, allowing for the colors pink, blue along with black and white, to play their […]

“Friendship is a contract between two hearts. With hearts united, women can laugh and cry, live and die together.”

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

by Leave a Comment

My local library has us go around in a circle and sum up the book in one word (Or a few words, I mean, they aren’t strict about it and sometimes one word just won’t do!) and my word for this one was “unrelenting” because I found it to be one of the toughest reads I’ve gone through in a while. That’s not to say it isn’t a good book, it is but, it’s about being a woman in China in the 1400s so there […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo