Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Pretty much nothing like the movie

How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

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Read the Rainbow – Red Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III may be the least intimidating Viking in several generations, which is a bit of a problem, since he’s the son of the Chief, and therefore meant to lead the Hairy Hooligans when he gets older. He’s skinny, puny, bookish and not even slightly intimidating, and when he has to compete in the traditional manhood trial of the tribe, and sneak into a cave to capture himself a dragon, he ends up with the smallest, least impressive […]

Connecting a community one sock at a time

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it All by Chanel Miller

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Magnolia Wu is almost ten. She spends a lot of time at her parent’s establishment, the Bing Qi Ling Bubbles Laundromat. Her loneliness leads to lots of creative thinking: on one wall is her bulletin board of lost socks, lone socks left behind by customers. While new friend and California transplant Iris is visiting, a customer xenophobically Karens out on Magnolia’s mom, and Magnolia nearly throws out her sock wall in a fit of anger. But Iris proposes they start the NYC Sock Detective project, […]

A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine

A Kids Book About Israel & Palestine by Reza Aslan

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I bought this for the children’s room I work in. And then I read it, because I am very much an “explain it to me like I’m six years old” person. The book very simply lays out the facts that led to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have been fairly outspoken about Palestinian rights, and most of my Jewish friends have been too, but I have some who stand up for Israel and I am trying to understand why. I don’t know that the book sold […]

Jukebox TARDIS

Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani

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Shaheen is a tween whose father is super into old music, and boy does he love to talk about it. He never talks about anything else. Shaheen explodes at him one day in an innocent fight, but then her father goes missing. The last place he was seen was at his favorite old record store. Shaheen and her cousin Tannez go investigate, and discover a unique jukebox in the attic of the abandoned store. They put a record on to play, a Bessie Smith album. […]

Columbian Mythology and Family Trauma

The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía by Alexandra Alessandri

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Valentina, her brother Julian, and her father are hiking the Columbian jungle to track down a vampire. Well, that’s what her father’s doing. Valentina is along for the ride, trying not to be embarrassed about her father and brother’s belief in Columbian folk creatures, and taking the opportunity to practice her drawing. But during the trip, Valentina has a visceral premonition: “The earth is not happy.” She urges her family to leave, but they are caught in a violent earthquake. The kids and their dad […]

Blancaflor and all the sh*t wives have to do

Blancaflor, The Hero with Secret Powers: ​A Folktale from Latin America by Nadja Spiegelman and Sergio García Sánchez

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Blancaflor is a folktale with Spanish and Latin American roots from a category of folktales called “Girl helps the hero flee.”  High John the Conqueror is an African-American version you may have read in Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly. In this type of folktale, a man ends up being captured by a devil or magician, and has to complete a series of impossible tasks. But the devil/magician’s daughter falls for the hero, and helps him complete the tasks and escape with his life. TOON […]



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