Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Home Family

A Forest, A Family, A Harbor, A Home by Nikki McClure

The Things We Hold by Vanessa Lewis-Porter and Cornelius Van Wright 

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I honestly debated putting these two books together in one review. They are both about homes, but each with a radically different direction. One is about the closeness of home and family, while the other deals with homelessness and family.  The only similarty is that both are future publications and read via an online reader.  Yet, please find two books about home and what that means to the characters in these picture books. A Forest, A Family, A Harbor, A Home by Nikki McClure (due […]

Kindness can go a long way.

La bondad brilla en la oscuridad / Kindness Glows in the Dark (Spanish and English Edition) by Gama Valle and Mrinali Álvarez Astacio

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While food insecurity is not a new subject, it is not one that is always talked about, especially in a picture book form or is not always accessible to all readers or listeners. The story La bondad brilla en la oscuridad / Kindness Glows in the Dark (Spanish and English Edition) by Gama Valle and Mrinali Álvarez Astacio (Illustrator) introduces this concept to a younger audience, but the extras at the end allow it to grow with the reader. The format, the place the story […]

I’m glad the author is enjoying international success

Stargate - en julefortelling/Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishøi

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Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Local author (the story takes place about 15 minutes from where I work) The full review of this on my blog contains spoilers so if you don’t want to know how the book ends, and why I can’t rate this book higher, skip the paragraphs I’ve highlighted. Ten-year-old Ronja and her sixteen-year-old sister Melissa are used to disappointments, living alone with a father who only occasionally sobers up long enough to hold down a job for a month or two. They’re […]

Politics, Economy and Gender of Gaming

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow

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My review of In Real Life by Cory Doctorow has borrowed pieces from a couple online reviewers. I figured they said what I was feeling, and it’s validating to know I wasn’t the only one that wasn’t “wowed” but the book, yet still found enjoyment. I will start  with: This is not a perfect story, still, I had… fun reading it. The online world vs real world has been done before.  You can … connect on a virtual level, but it can’t replace human (…) […]

“I looked and listened:” Two Photojournalism Books

World Press Photo 2021 by World Press Photo Foundation

Below the Line: Living Poor in America by Eugene Richards

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World Press Photo 2021 was an interesting one for me because it made me think a lot about what I like about photojournalism and why this particular volume wasn’t clicking for me. There’s a bit in the book where they talk about how the field has switched to focusing more on the photographer having a particular personal vision and trying to capture a photo that sums up some sort of larger issue or event, versus earlier photographers who were trying to capture an exciting photo […]

I really did not like this book.

What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell

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“The trouble with you is you don’t know what you want,” he said. “You say one thing and then another.” I knew he was right, and not just about my relationship with him; always I feel an ambivalence that spurs me first in one direction and then another, a habit that has done much damage. I didn’t deny what he said, I even nodded in agreement, at which his mood only darkened. ― Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You “Though I thought of him often, […]



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