Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Art…. there is a reason it rhymes with a bodily function, but not for Jo van Gogh!

Light, Letters, and Love: How Jo van Gogh Saved Vincent's Paintings for the World by Donna Cangelosi and Elisa Paganelli

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I appreciate art, even if I do not partially understand or like it. And honestly, Vincent van Gogh is one of those artists that I can appreciate, but I’m just not a fan. I never “got him” or why he is considered great. The Sunflowers? Yeah that’s a nope for me. But thankfully for those of you who are fans, his sister-in-law, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, was a fan who not only understood his work, she kept them even after his death. Even after others told […]

Honestly, I didn’t even know virologist was a word, let alone how bada$$ they can be!

June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus by Suzanne Slade and Elisa Paganelli

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Back in 2021 the book June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus by Suzanne Slade and illustrator Elisa Paganelli was published. In 2026 I found a copy of it. I then read it. I liked it. And then I wrote a review about it. The theme is simple: woman scientist discovered ways of counteracting viruses, learned to use machines in ways no one had before, and would decades before it would be needed on a global scale, tells us that […]

Giraffe ferry

The GiRaft: A Real-Life Giraffe Rescue by Laurel Neme and Elisa Paganelli

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There is clever and there is clever but just misses the mark when it comes to a fun title. And this is a clever title. The GiRaft: A Real-Life Giraffe Rescue is an easily accessible book as it explains about people save some rare giraffes by using a raft to save it, after a natural event causes a serious situation.  But Laurel Neme gave us more than just that. There is history and environmentalism. There is love of animals and the land. There is a […]

We can still talk about summer books

Summer Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and Elisa Paganelli

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Recently I found an online reader copy of a title called Summer Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and Elisa Paganelli. They have a prequel or companion Winter Solstice Wish which I remember reading, but was not WOWed by it, but felt that it was enjoyable to read. However, I tried to read Summer, and could not finish it. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood for it. Perhaps I was not the reader for it. Perhaps I was thinking of Halloween and summer was […]

The community of solstice

Winter Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and Elisa Paganelli

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I am not jumping up and down and saying Winter Solstice Wish by Kate Allen Fox and illustrated by Elisa Paganelli (currently available, but I read via an online reader copy) is the best solstice book ever, but I am jumping in to say this is a nice and slightly different approach to the subject. What I have seen for solstice books tend to show more winter scenes and events done to celebrate the seasonal moment. When we find the shortest day of the year, […]



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