Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Columbian Mythology and Family Trauma

The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía by Alexandra Alessandri

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Valentina, her brother Julian, and her father are hiking the Columbian jungle to track down a vampire. Well, that’s what her father’s doing. Valentina is along for the ride, trying not to be embarrassed about her father and brother’s belief in Columbian folk creatures, and taking the opportunity to practice her drawing. But during the trip, Valentina has a visceral premonition: “The earth is not happy.” She urges her family to leave, but they are caught in a violent earthquake. The kids and their dad […]

Come for the Cat Named Purrcaso, Stay for the Story and Representation

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

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I expected to like this book. I did not expect to love it, but it was great. It was the second book I picked up for the trans rights readathon, and not only is there trans representation in the book, but both the author and the cover illustrator are trans. I love that Aiden Thomas was able to represent both their gender and their Latinx culture in this debut novel that follows trans teen Yadriel. While he is not fully rejected by his family, he […]

Not velvet, more like scratchy polyester

Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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  Having really enjoyed Moreno-Garcia’s novel, Mexican Gothic, I ordered Velvet Was the Night excitedly, hopeful for another arresting story that was gripping from the start. Unfortunately, that was not what I got from this book. It took me much longer to get into it, and I may have set myself up for disappointment since I was holding it up to Mexican Gothic. It took me several days to finish this book, which isn’t the case with a book I am actively enjoying, I can […]

Please read this book.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

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CBR Bingo: They/She/He (author and one of the main characters are trans) A book like this makes me thankful for CBR because I get to talk about something that made me so happy. Cemetery Boys is a delight. Yadriel is a teenager in a family of brujx. They want him to follow in their footsteps, but the problem is they’re having some trouble accepting that Yadriel is a boy who wants to become a brujo (rather than a girl who should become a bruja). Determined to prove […]

A House in Pieces

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

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While a classic, I’ve never gotten around to reading The House on Mango Street, but my mentor wants to add it to our class reading list and has asked me to teach it. I blew through it in about six hours, and I don’t know why I’ve avoided this book for such a long time. Like many classics, I’d heard the title bandied about in conversation, but never any details about the plot, and my idea of what this books was about (a house in a […]

“…loving Blackness enough to see its assets so that dark children matter.” Dr. Bettina L. Love

Hair Story by NoNieqa Ramos

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I’m having a hard time explaining just how much I loved this book, but I’m going to do my best. First off, Hair Story is own voices written & illustrated, and both the author, NoNieqa Ramos, and the illustrator, Keisha Morris, include their own hair stories at the back of the book, which was a lovely surprise.     Second, do you see these illustrations? The texture and colors and patterns and perfection of them?  You can see the love in that grandmother’s face, the joy in […]



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