Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Doctor is a Life Saver

A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas by Joan Schoettler and Steffi Walthall

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This man grew up in a family that demanded perfection, he would grow up to graduate with honors, he would lose all his money in the stock market crash, and he would go on to be the man who helped find a cure for blue baby syndrome. He was Vivien Thomas. Oddly enough, though they mention the pay discrepancies, there is not a lot about the racism Thomas would have faced.  And though there is the story of how he got his “girls name,” I […]

The Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of Pooping! (But classy)

Ooo…Poo! by Elliot Kreloff

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Everyone poops! In the ocean, on land and even the sky (WATCH OUT!) and in this book, Ooo…Poo! You see written at an easy reading and understanding level, the different types and words, for it. It starts off with the end pages giving you a um…colorful…. bunch of words (feces) for the thing some call poo. Then we go farther along in the book by Elliot Kreloff (who looks like they enjoy the scoop on poop and really want to share with you) we see […]

She showed her knees and swam away a winner

Annette Feels Free: The True Story of Annette Kellerman, World-Class Swimmer, Fashion Pioneer, and Real-Life Mermaid by Katie Mazeika

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When looking through the old online reader copy links I found some surprises but others, like Annette Feels Free: The True Story of Annette Kellerman, World-Class Swimmer, Fashion Pioneer, and Real-Life Mermaid was only a small surprise as I like biographies of unknown (or at least mostly unknown) people. And Kellerman is a fairly unknown name today. But that was not the case when she was a swimmer. Taking Australia by storm, a young teen took to swimming like fish takes to swimming. It did […]

When AIDS crashed the party

The Other Pandemic: An AIDS Memoir by Lynn Curlee

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CBR15Passport Different genres (Nonfiction as memoir)   Holy Flying Monkeys!  The Other Pandemic: An AIDS Memoir was not what I expected. My first thought was, “Um…do we really need a book about AIDS? Didn’t we already “do that?” But then I realized two things, first it was a memoir and not a factual book (my bad) and second, especially as I got into it, I realized that yes, we really do need this book. This is not a book about AIDS, but about Lynn Curlee […]

Small Things

Thank You, Miyuki by Marie Roxanne Galliez

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Thank You, Miyuki by Marie Roxanne Galliez has some amazing illustrations by Seng Soun Ratanavanh. Bursting with colors that bring to life the Japanese world of Miyuki’s grandfather, the world of patience and being in the moment is introduced. This third book by the duo shows Miyuki a rambunctious, rowdy child who is terribly active. Curious and full of imagination, she tries to do tai chi with her grandfather, but falls over. And every time he tries to meditate there is Miyuki asking away. During […]

Celebrate good times, come on

Hello Sacred Life  by Kim Krans

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I counted Hello Sacred Life has less than 35 words. Therefore, how does one write a 250-word review of the book by Kim Krans? You focus on one thing: the artwork. But first the quick review of the story. The story is not a story. It is a mantra. A meditation of sorts. You say, “Hello sacred…” and fill in with sun, earth, moon, children, water, fire, air, space, light, dark, and finally, life. The end. The artwork, on the other hand is just as simple, […]



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