Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


If people were already there, how did we discover it?

New World by David Jesus Vignolli

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Artistically, New World by David Jesus Vignolli is well done. However, there was something missing to the story itself. The story opens with a commentary by someone (you are not exactly sure yet) and the colors are all but nonexistent. Slowly, you start to see color when the eye of a sailor comes into focus. It is green. You are zoomed into the eye, step by step, with the green getting more and more obvious. Then you see what looks to be trees. A jungle. […]

When the poet laureate comes to town

In Mad Love and War by Joy Harjo

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I don’t usually read poetry collections for funsies, or much at all really. But when the Poet Laureate of the United States decided to do a talk/reading at the mid-level state school where I work, I made an exception. To decide if I wanted to brave the crowds, I got a copy of one of Joy Harjo’s collections In Mad Love and War from the library. I don’t often enjoy a lot of contemporary poetry; I’m a little too much of a formalist for that […]

Stories from the 1% (no not THAT one)

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

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Recently I was lucky to present at our state comic con on Teen Girls in Space, and one of the focuses of my panel contributions was diversity in pop culture. I got to really dig into the still terrible statistics of representation in literature and media, and while it was nice to see the numbers getting better, all in all it is a “long way to go” situation – unsurprising to any Pajiban and Cannonballer, I am sure. Of the many major bummers, one super-major […]

A urgent rallying cry

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

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We Are Water Protectors will be another book that will get people talking about the situation presented. Perhaps it will not be as popular as others, but this book deals with Native American and environmental issues that are relative to the current environment we live in. While it is based on the Carole Lindstrom’s experiences growing up and the contemporary events of the peoples; it is a book that is for everyone. It shows what one group of people are trying to do. This is […]

“Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.”

Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller by Doreen Rappaport

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Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller is more a rating of a 4.5 as I had wanted it to be a bit longer. But as it is a picture book, the length is perfect. It is a longer story to start with as many of Doreen Rappaport’s books are. This is a modern and positive look at one of the leaders in not only Women’s History but Native History as well. Mankiller’s life unfolds on the pages of the book. Linda Kukuk’s illustrations are […]

An unattended wound gets infected

There There by Tommy Orange

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CBR11 BINGO: Own Voices and HALF CANNONBALL! There are so many books out there that could easily be great candidates for the CBR Bingo “Own Voices” square. As a white, female reader, I know that I tend to gravitate towards novels about and by white, and often female, authors. I don’t have to scroll through my GoodReads to know that. While I do read across a wide range of genres, I am trying to make more of an effort to seek out books by other […]



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