Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


It is: “These are cool books, but I do not have the 250-word minimum for each of them” time.

Wild Peace by Irene Latham

Why? A Conversation About Race by Taye Diggs

Who Loves Little Lemur? by Jay Fleck

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It is: “These are cool books, but I do not have the 250-word minimum for each of them” time. We start with Wild Peace which was penned by Irene Latham and illustrations that came from Il Sung Na.  This is a lovely poem about taking a break and about imagination set in the picture book format. The start and end have a few unusual illustrations that I never completely “got” but overall, my favorite part of the book are the illustrations. This is a relaxing […]

I don’t think Bill W. saw this gal coming!

Other Broken Things by C. Desir

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Oh boy! Did I hate this book by C. Desir for the first few chapters: Natalie is a spoiled rich girl and is a “drunk” and of course thinks she does not have a problem; that everyone parities. Her character was a cliché from the first word. She, of course, blames everyone else for her problems, but does not admit they are problems. Even during a cliched moment (that I had really hoped was not going to happen) near the end of the book, she […]

A controversial question with the answer of a good book

Jo Jo Makoons: The Use-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley

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One of the most controversial questions you can ask about characters of a book is, “Why is your character X?” (Fill in the blank: gay, black, Muslim, etc.). But it is an important question. Why does you character have to be X? OR: Why do they have brown hair or green eyes? Why are they tall or short? Why are they male, female, or non-binary? Why are they an alien, a dog, a robot or a farting penguin? What does that piece of information do […]

Grandpa, Gong Gong or Bompa, whatever you call them, they are all still Grandfathers!

Grandpa Grumps by Katrina Moore

My Day With Gong Gong by Sennah Yee

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In these two books, we see granddaughters who are not that close to a grandfather. Or at least, not at first due to the generation and language gaps they face. In Grandpa Grumps and My Day with Gong Gong two young granddaughters have problems trying to connect with their grandfathers as both grandfather’s English is limited, and Daisy and May have limited Chinese. But both learn that no matter the gaps they are facing, what can overcome that is the language of family and love. […]

A powerful story of belief, grief, and belonging

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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Gifty is the daughter of two Ghanaian immigrants: her mother, a depressive woman who turns to American Evangelical Christianity for a respite from life, and her father, a man who abandons his family to return to his home in Ghana. Gifty has a brother: an athlete who struggles with addiction. Throughout the novel, Gifty bounces from memory to memory as she completes her doctoral work at Stanford in neurology and takes care of her mother. Each memory reveals layer after layer of who Gifty is […]

hide all you want, but nothing stays buried

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller

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Jeanie and Julius have spent their entire lives together. Over half a century of life together has passed, and they have never spent an entire night separate from each other. Jeanie tends the garden with their mother, Dot, and Julius works odd jobs in the village. Jeanie, Julius, and Dot depend fiercely on one another. They accept nothing from the outside world- at least, Jeanie and Julius spent the last 51 years believing that they were accepting nothing and indebted to no one but each […]



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