Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Revisiting a queer collection from my ’90s youth

Am I Blue by Marion Dane Bauer

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I picked up Am I Blue?, an anthology of “gay and lesbian” stories for young adults right around when it was published in 1994. I was in middle school, which I had entered with a new haircut that earned me a lot of accusations from more ignorant classmates. But I think this was just a coincidence; I don’t remember questioning my sexuality or gender despite those comments. I expect I either picked it up out of curiosity about the gay community, or that my mom […]

“I know now that what’s tragic isn’t the moment. It is the memory.”

Another Brooklyn: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson

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Cbr16bingo Disco, bingo  (1970s New York, marginalized communities) In the author’s notes at the end of this novel, Woodson writes that her inspiration came from her thoughts on “what it means to grow up a girl in this country,” particularly in 1970s Brooklyn. Those familiar with Woodson’s novels — read Brown Girl Dreaming and Red at the Bone, both excellent — know that she has an incredible talent for writing about the experiences of Black girls in specific points in US history such as the […]

The real price of our entertainment

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson

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I first found Jacqueline Woodson when I read Brown Girl Dreaming after it won the National Book Award. It was like nothing I’d ever read before. It was not a typical narrative and almost felt like poetry. Thus, it was very emotional and impactful in parts but also sometimes more difficult to read than a straight-forward story. After that experience, I’ve read whatever Woodson book I’ve noticed has been recently published. Before the Ever After (2020) is a short novel that addresses chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the disease […]

“…Love changes and changes. Then it changes again…”

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

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I first saw Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson on NPR’s Best Books of 2019 List. I’d already read Brown Girl Dreaming by Woodson and found it both impressive and challenging because of its unexpected (to me) format. It was Cannonball Bingo that cemented my decision to read Red at the Bone. I was already interested in it, and I needed a book with “Red” in the title. Of course, I was a little too slow to make this one count, but I still enjoyed it. The book begins with […]

Legacy

Red at the Bone:A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson

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How is it that some writers, in under 200 pages, can paint for the reader a vivid picture of 100 years of history, of family dynamics, love, pain, frustration, success, and loss, while others in nearly 800 pages can only manage to cover a fraction of the time and far less of the depth of feeling of their characters (looking at you)? Jacqueline Woodson is one of the finest writers of our time. She has won numerous awards, including for her critically acclaimed YA memoir-as-poetry […]

An autobiography in verse

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

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4.5 stars Official book description: Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. […]



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