Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Don’t pass on these Passover books

An Invitation to Passover by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen and Mariia Kolker

Why On This Night? : A Passover Haggadah for Family Celebration by Rahel Musleah and Louise August

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Both of the Passover books in this review are from February 2024, however, I still had online reader copies of both. The first, An Invitation to Passover by Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen and illustrated by Mariia Kolker was read in full, while the second, Why On This Night? : A Passover Haggadah for Family Celebration by Rahel Musleah, and Louise August was skimmed. With that said, both seem to be really good Passover stories. Olitzky’s story is a younger introduction to the […]

During World War Two, in the concentration camp Terezin, something grew

The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Elisa Boxer

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The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Elisa Boxer and illustrated by Alianna Rozentsveig was not what I expected. I think I assumed it would be a lot darker than it was, but oddly enough, it is a hopeful introduction to the subject and one that does offset the darkness of the situation and times.  Perhaps things are a bit more poetic than the actual events were (a teacher in Terezin risks her life to ask another prisoner (also risking […]

The other parts of faith

On a Chariot of Fire: The Story of India’s Bene Israel by Erica Lyons

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Due to recent world events, I have tried to find books that show another side to the people involved in these conflicts. In my search I have found several books, including an Ukrainian folktale, such as a counting book from Palestine and books on Judaism or the people. And one of those that I recently found was, On a Chariot of Fire: The Story of India’s Bene Israel by Erica Lyons, (currently available, read via an online reader). I cannot say a lot about the […]

Old Sins Cast Long Shadows

Shadows of Berlin by David R. Gillham

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A decade after World War 2, Rachel Perlman may have moved to New York City and gotten married, but she is still haunted by her experiences as a Jewish girl hiding in plain sight in Berlin and the death of her mother. Despite what the blurb led me to expect, this book is not a World War 2 novel – at least, not exactly. Though Rachel’s experiences in Berlin hang over the entirety of the story, we spend most our time with her grappling with […]

“All of Life Was Only Moments, After All”

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

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Uprooted and Spinning Silver are a pair of standalone novels by Naomi Novik, though they share some similarities in that they both seem to be set in a medieval version of eastern Europe and were inspired by fairy tales, though I would say that the fairy tale inspiration is much stronger and clearer in Spinning Silver. Uprooted is about Agnieszka, a 17-year-old girl who is chosen by a wizard named the Dragon to serve him for 10 years. He chooses a new girl every 10 […]

“There are no stupid questions, nor any forbidden ones, but there are some questions that have no answer.”

Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition by Hedi Fried

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Four main things stand out for me from reading Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition. The first, it took the author, Hedi Fried, a lifetime to heal and process her experiences; the second, history has repeated itself, and third, while I knew what genocide meant (there is also a glossary that gives a technical definition) it was broken down by etymology: genos: people and cide: murder, or People Murder. But perhaps the big takeaway from this translation by Alice E. Olsson […]



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