Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


The philosophy of tikkun olam

One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story by Victoria Tentler-Krylov

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Recently published (in August 2024), One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story by Ruth Spiro and illustrated by Victoria Tentler-Krylov, explores the concept of Tikkun Olam, which has several meanings, but basically is to “improve your surroundings.” The authors afterwards is important because it not only helps expand on this idea, but allows you to know that while it is told via a “Jewish lens” in the book (authors words), it is not limited to this religion. Many religions and cultures practice this idea. The […]

Celebrating and loss

Popi's All Souls Song by C.K. Malone

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Popi’s All Souls Song by C.K. Malone and illustrated by Shelly Swann is due mid September 2024. I was able to find an online reader copy and I am curious about the final product. I think reading online made me “miss” some important pieces of the story. There is a small bump near the end that did not flow for me. However, overall it is an interesting story that takes a familiar topic (the death of a loved one) and handles it with love, care […]

Let there be light and community 

The Light Keeper by Sheila Baslaw

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Recently an email pops into my work emails and it says that I have been chosen to read a book in an online reader format. Fantastic! When did I enter/ask for this book?  I could not remember even seeing The Light Keeper by Sheila Baslaw, Karen Levine, and Alice Priestley before. But that would work in my favor as I had no preconceived notions about things.  While I have read the theme of the story before (the idea of being brave), it was new and […]

Amazing Blackfeet Thriller!

Looking for Smoke by K. A. Cobell

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This book was so incredible. If you liked The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, Looking for Smoke goes hand in hand as another novel where a teen girl has to figure out what is happening in her community. Looking for Smoke follows Mara Racette, recently moved to the Blackfeet Rez in Browning, Loren Arnoux, whose older sister went missing three months earlier, Brody Clark, who has a crush on Loren and the joker of their friend group, and Eli First Kill, whose biggest concern is […]

Thyme travels

Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin

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As an adult, I found a few areas in Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin that were not “smooth” for me, however, from ages 10 to 14 I would have enjoyed it. You are there with our narrator Thyme (like the clock, with a HY). You worry about fitting in at your new school, you worry about your siblings and your relationships with them, you worry about your old friendships, you are sad and happy, you try to balance your “now and then” and along the […]

A street and community

Dear Street by Lindsay Zier-Vogel

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I read Dear Street some time back. I enjoyed it, but it was not a “wow best book ever.” However, as I was going through my saved online reader links recently, I found it again. And out of all the ones I was looking at (around a couple dozen or so) there were only a few still active. Therefore, I took it as a sign to read it again. And therefore, while it is available, the Lindsay Zier-Vogel and Caroline Bonne-Muller (illustrated by) book was […]



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