Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Two women. Two powerhouses

The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne by  Lesa Cline-Ransome

Marie Curie and the Power of Persistence by Karla Valenti

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Another recent health issue caused me to have a few days off from work and I did some reading. I first picked up a few picture books as I figured I could concentrate on them. And except for one book, they were all not easy. The first two were about women of history. Women that we might not know about or know about, but not everything. The Power of Her Pen: The story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne by Lesa Cline-Ransome and John Parra is […]

Experiments and Science!

Test This Book!: A Laugh-Out-Loud Picture Book about Experiments and Science! by Louie Zong

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Test This Book!: A Laugh-Out-Loud Picture Book about Experiments and Science! has a title is almost longer than the book. The basic idea is there are two scientists (a bear and a frog), and they are teaching you how to do experiments. They use a book (in fact the book you are holding) as the example. You need to see if you can shake a book and then you see what happens and record it. Also, other tests such as what happens if you sit […]

This is factual, not just farting (but who doesn’t enjoy a good fart?)

Jop and Blip Wanna Know V01: Can You Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars? And Other Excellent Questions by Jim Benton

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June/July 2021 cannot come soon enough! I want to recommend Jop and Blip Wanna Know V01: Can You Hear a Penguin Fart on Mars? And Other Excellent Questions ALL THE TIME. Jim Benton created a non-fiction question book done in a humorous fiction way. I am sure more than one kid has wondered if you can hear a penguin fart like grandma does, why do we have two nostrils and if dragons are real. You will learn this and more (such as who invented the […]

Here Birdie, birdie bird!

How to Find a Bird by Jennifer Ward

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How to Find a Bird is a great non-fiction book presented as a traditional picture book story. Jennifer Ward’s text is about an all-knowing narrator taking you (and the characters of the book) on a journey throughout almost all the known birds. Some will be familiar due to your own area, while others might not be. There are even a few pages dedicated to birds that have gone extinct. Each page has facts or pieces of information on birds, how to see and hear birds […]

Let’s Talk About Sex

Bonk by Mary Roach

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Mary Roach is considered the world’s funniest science writer, and this work is no exception to that. She mixes the scientific lingo with the layman’s terms with such ease that the reader is eased into whatever niche topic Ms. Roach is discussing. We all become scientists for a moment while reading Mary Roach. Bonk is no different from her other works in this sense, and if you’ve read other Mary Roach this book and its subject should not be surprising.  In fact, I found it […]

Thoughtful meditation on science, faith and family

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

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Yaa Gyasi is best known for her critically acclaimed first novel, Homegoing.  Unlike Homegoing, which I gather has a broad sweep in terms in geography and time (its in my TBR pile!), Transcendent Kingdom is narrowly focused on one woman, Gifty, in her adolescent to early adult years.  Although the scope of the novel expands a little to include Gifty’s immediate family and a few friends, the novel remains focused on her experiences with these additional cast members- we see them through her eyes. We […]



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