Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


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The Heart Principle grabbed mine and didn’t let go

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

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Helen Hoang’s The Heart Principle was everything I wanted and more. Our heroine Anna Sun is going through it. She is a violinist stuck in a loop after a performance video goes viral on YouTube. With every practice session, she wants to replicate that moment with precision. She ends up burned out and unable to finish the song. She is attempting therapy to find a breakthrough. Later that day, her boyfriend asks to “see other people” as an excuse to know that he’s ready to […]

Sing or dig?

Song of the Court by Katy Farina

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Song of the Court by Katy Farina is a cute story about being true to yourself. It might be a bit sugary sweet for some (probably mostly adults and/or older readers), but for the ages six to eight crowd, and if the reader is more “girly” in their tastes, it is right up their alley. There are princesses, music, gardening, best friends, and a lot more. The illustrations are bold, but not necessarily to extreme. Farina makes them in an anime format, that has hints […]

The Hero Played Fiddle

The Bravest Man in the World by Patricia Polacco

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Covers speak a lot about what might be in a book. I looked at the cover of The Bravest Man in the World by Patricia Polacco and thought, “I wonder if this is about a Jewish man in a concentration camp?” For some reason it had that feeling of how music can keep you free during great turmoil. But then saw the ship behind him, “Aaaah. A book about the Titanic.” (I still think a story of the Titanic fits that theme.) This book has […]

The Dance of the Violin

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The Dance of the Violin is a delightful story about a young boy who loves music and finds a way to always play. And will use anything to make music: pots and pans and even rubber bands. This is when his family buys him a violin. One day he tells everyone he has to partake in a contest. It will be his first, but even so, he tells his teacher he must play this one piece of music, even though it is one of the […]



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