Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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Honestly, I didn’t even know virologist was a word, let alone how bada$$ they can be!

June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus by Suzanne Slade and Elisa Paganelli

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Back in 2021 the book June Almeida, Virus Detective!: The Woman Who Discovered the First Human Coronavirus by Suzanne Slade and illustrator Elisa Paganelli was published. In 2026 I found a copy of it. I then read it. I liked it. And then I wrote a review about it. The theme is simple: woman scientist discovered ways of counteracting viruses, learned to use machines in ways no one had before, and would decades before it would be needed on a global scale, tells us that […]

The climate be changing

Change Is in the Air: The Hidden Discoveries of Eunice Newton Foote, the First Climate Scientist by Rebecca Donnelly and Mercè López

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My review is: Just read Change Is in the Air: The Hidden Discoveries of Eunice Newton Foote, the First Climate Scientist by Rebecca Donnelly and illustrator Mercè López, okay? Well, unless you get an online reader copy like I had, you do have to wait until mid-February to do so, but that still does not mean you need me to tell you all about the wonderful things about Eunice Newton Foote. Like how she, during a time when few people let alone women, had a […]

The Wheat Whisper or Father of the Green Revolution,

Hero for the Hungry : The Life and Work of Work of Norman Borlaug by Peggy Thomas

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While back, an email came into my possession containing the (currently available) reader copy of Hero for the Hungry : The Life and Work of Work of Norman Borlaug  by Peggy Thomas and illustrator Sam Kalda. The first part of the first half was interesting. It gave a nice introduction to the man that was Norman Borlaug. Starting with him as a young farm child to his college years, we see how he would eventually end up in Mexico learning as much as he would […]

I wanna be her when I grow up!

Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe by Amy S. Hansen, Wanda Diaz Merced and Rocio Arreola Mendoza

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Of course astronomers are not people we see a lot in biographies for children and especially women astronomers. But when you find a book called Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe you think, “Did I see that right? A female astronomer?”  Then you see the word “blind” and realize she was also blind. What the fudge…..????? And, yes, we read that right. Amy S. Hansen with Wanda Díaz Merced, and illustrated by Rocio Arreola  Mendoza created a book about Merced. […]

You don’t look like a scientist

The Clues Are in the Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientist Karen Chin by Karen Chin and Jane Kurtz

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I was recently given a paperback copy of The Clues Are in the Poo: The Story of Dinosaur Scientist Karen Chin. I was excited because I am a fan of teaching kids science in a fun way and seriously, don’t most kids like poo? Now, maybe I wouldn’t have been all that “into poo” back in my younger years, but I know most kids are. And granted, as an adult, I have learned many things by taking a humorous or less traditional format (and yes […]

Living up to your infamous family heritage

Shelley Frankenstein! V01 CowPiggy by Colleen Madden

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Do you want a book where your main character has a “loud personality” and is a big sister, and is a person who does not realize that people do not like to be scared (not even a little bit) most of the time (if not all the time)? Then you probably want to read the graphic novel, Shelley Frankenstein! V01 CowPiggy by Colleen Madden. There is a cute sister/brother relationship, and the historical aspect is amusing (yes, THOSE Frankenstein’s are the ancestors of Shelley and […]



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