Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

You’re a poet and you don’t write about it that much

Dino Poet : A Graphic Novel by Tom Angleberger

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Education, CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge Learning poetry in a fun, simpler manner is a great way to introduce kids to the genre. And you can do that in Dino Poet : A Graphic Novel by Tom Angleberger. I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on poetry not needing to rhyme, but overall it is a clever book with enough humor to keep kids interested. Currently available, I read via an online reader copy. Now, I might not purchase a copy for myself as […]

“You never leave jail, and jail never leaves you.”

I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine: Tales of Kids in Adult Lockup by David Chura

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I honestly don’t remember where I got this, but I think it was at a used bookstore this summer. I Don’t Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine is a collection of stories of David Chura’s time teaching teenagers who were seen as adult criminals legally and were being put into the adult system. He covers a variety of scenarios and tells some very heartbreaking stories that he saw during his tenure as a teacher. His main thesis is that the system is destructive […]

The lengths two girls will take to go to school 

Yenebi's Drive to School by Sendy Santamaria

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Yenebi’s Drive to School by Sendy Santamaria is about Yenebi, her sister Melanie, and mom drive to school every morning across the US-Mexico border. The end. Except it isn’t. You would not think that a trip to school would be as full as it is for Yenebi, but it is. It is wildly adventurous.  Waking at four in the morning to get ready for the drive. Beating on if it will take two or three hours to get there. Wait? Two to three HOURS? You […]

How I used weltschmerz to inspire my reviews

P Is for Palestine : A Palestine Alphabet Book by Golbarg Bashi

The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah by Jane Yolen

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Currently the world events should be causing us all weltschmerz (thank you to the word of the day at our morning meeting). It means “world pain” (or a feeling of sadness about the state of the world. Melancholy or world weariness). And I am naive enough to believe that if we start reading about the people involved, it can show us how we are not different from each other, but how our similarities should be bringing us together.  Like P Is for Palestine : A […]

Don’t Let Your Midlife Crisis Ruin Your Children’s Lives

Wavewalker by Suzanne Heywood

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When Suzanne’s parents tell her that their family is going to live on a boat and sail around the world, they sell it to her and everyone as the adventure of a lifetime. But the reality of it is much more grim, with constant instability and little care for the children’s education or futures. Talk about making your midlife crisis your children’s problem! Having seen an uptick of chatter online about parents gaming the homeschooling system to let their kids run wild, it was interesting […]

Something sweet

On the Corner of Chocolate Avenue: How Milton Hershey Bought Milk Chocolate to America by Tziporah Cohen

Milloo's Mind: the Story of Maryam Faruqi, Trailblazer for Women's Education by Reem Faruqi

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This is the first year I do not have a nephew in school. I have three cousins who are still going (one who is a junior or senior in high school, one almost in high school and one almost (or is) junior high), but it is not the same. Do I feel old? A little, but because I am mostly young at heart, and I can read picture books, I can still think I am that kid reading 100 books for summer reading challenges and […]



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