Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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middle-aged reflection and other poems

The Soft Black Stars by Matthew Buckley Smith

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The Soft Black Stars by Matthew Buckley Smith was a gift from a friend of mine. She and I compare our poetry and she has been an excellent editor and inspiration to me. Our styles vary immensely (usually she writes personal, longer poetry, with clever use of styles and formats; mine are a bit shorter, less personal, free verse). Occasionally I will have a surprise package and a book will be that surprise. Usually a poetry collection that she has been part of, a friend […]

Six stories, one War

Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children by Kath Shackelton, Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones

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This is a controversial start to my review of Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children by editor Kath Shackelton: Yes, I think we need stories about the Jewish experiences of the Holocaust. Yes, we need the children’s stories. And thankfully we can have survivor stories. However, we know those stories. I would love to see more stories about the other people who were persecuted as well. I want a mix of stories as I do not want anyone’s story to be […]

Of course you judge a book by its cover

Arthur’s Cat by Johan Leynaud

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Maybe oddly, but it is the cover of Arthur’s Cat by Johan Leynaud (translated by Sarah Ardizzone) that not only caught my attention (the off blue-green just sat on my screen, any details unable to be distinguished) but once I figure it out, that was what actually made me want to read it. That shock of white in the middle of that blue was intriguing. Why did this simple colored and detailed cover capture my imagination? I’m still not really sure, but thanks to it, […]

Losing Tom Hart’s heart

Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir by Tom Hart

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Rosalie Lightning: A Graphic Memoir by Tom Hart is an interesting look at grief. The author’s self-centered approach (meaning he is the center of the grief, how things around him come into his circle of emotions and trying to live) is both relatable and unique to his own experiences. Anyone who has lost a child (regardless of the age) can find parts of themselves. Seeing how weeks to a few months after the death of his almost two-year-old daughter came to shape him is touching […]

Do the Dino

The Dino Door by Josh Funk and Renée Kurilla

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The online read The Dino Door  by a favorite author of mine, Josh Funk, was enjoyable, but did not  WOW me. I do like the very end with the silly image that gives a fourth wall break, in one of the pictures on the bedroom wall of the child, so that boosts the overall simplicity, but getting there was not my thing.  And when I say simple I mean simple as there are maybe a dozen or so words on the pages total. Writing a […]

In the Early 1980s Fujiwara Maki began a picture diary

My Picture Diary by Maki Fujiwara

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My Picture Diary is an odd little book. It is a day-to-day/day in the life of the author, Maki Fujiwara (also illustrated by) and her family. Things are fairly dull on the surface, but a lot is going on nonetheless. You can see the era (the late 1970s/early 1980s) and the culture and country (Japan); and of course, the husband and wife and the parent(s) and child relationships. The illustrations are simple, but deceptively so. The style itself is not overly detailed, but they do […]



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