Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Middle-grade picture book

Finding My Spark by Isabelle Jameson, Ann Marie Boulanger and Sylvain Cabot

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A recent online read (due mid August 2026) was Finding My Spark by Isabelle Jameson, Ann Marie Boulanger (translator), and Sylvain Cabot (illustrator). It is an upbeat and positive coming out story for a trans boy. The publisher description says it is a middle grade read but the picture book format might be a turnoff for that age. Yet, it  could work as a read-aloud in the classroom or siblings dealing with a sibling or classmate’s transition. Due to the translation there were some bumps […]

A pig needs a knife

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin

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A few days after I finished the Black Flame novel by Gretchen Felker-Martin, I was trying to describe it to a coworker. I was not doing a good job. I said it was horror and you could see it at a surface level or in a deeper manner. We follow a woman, who is a seriously closeted lesbian, who restores old film. She is used as the “official Jew”  (she is called the “mailroom Jew” when sent to meet a reporter who is deliberately hurtful, […]

To Tuck or Not to Tuck or how to Survive BeerGate

Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney

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cbr17bingo TBR  A while back, I texted a friend about a book I was going to read. It was out of my usual read because it was not a graphic novel, it was nonfiction and it was for physically and mentally adults. It was Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer by Dylan Mulvaney. My friend told me to let her know how it turned out. My first comment was, “Well, it didn’t stink.” And I said that with love. I expected something preachy and […]

A long review with a lot of thoughts

Transitions: A Mother's Journey by Elodie Durand

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I used to book mentor a kid that came to my store. He was smart, but mentally and physically young. One day I learned he wanted to go by “James” not “Jamie” anymore. Why? You see, his neighbor “Bob” left one day and when he came back, she was “Jamie” and (hopefully) she was happy. Now, since “James” was a kid, it is expected that he wouldn’t understand this. After all, transgendered people were not in the mainstream as they would be even a few […]

Home is where your body is

Homebody by Theo Parish

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Perhaps the first thing I noticed about Homebody (outside of the “removal of color” and the use of color in a non-traditional fashion) was how open Theo Parish’s story was. They are not giving you the “down and dirty details” (unless you count one of the cats giving themselves a um… down there … bath) but they allow you into their world. We also are not given all the “bad things,” just honesty that they were there. The third was, how they do not use […]

Horror 101 and Comedy 102

Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

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Boys Weekend is Horror 101 with Comedy 102. The mix of GLBTQ themes, friendship, love, family, and an odd cult-religion all play together with first the idea of humanity, society roles and more that is taking front stage. You can take the action as a straightforward  horror/thriller story or take it for a deeper meaning, but however you take it know there are possible triggers, such as violence, guns, sexual situations, visual gross-outs and blood. Lots of blood. Totally not for everyone, but everyone might […]



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