Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Lost Children, Almost Forgotten History

Keeper of Lost Children by Sadeqa Johnson

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I have never read this author before but I was intrigued by the premise when I saw this on a few “Anticipated 2026 Releases” lists. The novel follows three different characters with different starting points, and naturally the stories converge. Ozzie is an African American soldier in Germany in 1948 – right when Truman passes the order to desegregate the military. Ethel Gathers is on an accompanied tour to Germany as her husband’s dependent in 1951. She is one of the few Black officers’ wives […]

The story in grandmother’s attic

A Family Secret by Eric Heuvel and Lorraine T. Miller

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Due to the familiarity of the story presented in A Family Secret by Eric Heuvel and Lorraine T. Miller (Translator), things were not as impactful as it could have been. However, if this is your first or near first time reading a WWII / Holocaust story, it is good. The images are busy, so take your time with them. The ending is a smidgen idealistic, but it’s also a nice touch. I am now curious about the sequel / companion graphic novel. I would have […]

Witches and Nazis and Ghosts – Oh My

A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan

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The author definitely has potential and I’d be curious to see what else she does but I’d say the novel is a solid 3 – really interesting ideas but there were plot points that could have been fleshed out more to make it stronger. Other themes and plot were very much conventional (mother-daughter conflicts, the old ways vs the new ways, and I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised by the twist) but within that, there are some very emotional and moving scenes. […]

Of course, after building up this title, you will need to wait until April 2026 for reading

Unbreakable: A Japanese American Family in an American Incarceration Camp (A Picture Book) by Minoru Tonai, Jolene Gutiérrez, and Chris Sasaki

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When you read as many picture books as I do, once in a while one of two things (or both) can happen. The first is you think you’ve read it before (or at least a sample) or things start to feel similar due to similar subjects. A subject I am interested in are the Japanese-American internment camps from World War II.  This is partly because I have family who is Japanese-American and when I realized this could be them it made it personal (I know […]

“Wealth is just security. Luxury is living care free.”

The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

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4.5 stars CBR17 Bingo: Culture (A lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds, countries and cultures are forced together for a time during World War II) Official plot summary: January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles. Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her […]

Folktales and cycles through history

Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai

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Songs for Ghosts fulfills the “culture” square on CBR17 Bingo. Songs for Ghosts is a beautiful, tragic story of the power of stories and love, as well as the way past choices can create cycles throughout time. I’m unfamiliar with it, but in the afterword the author talks about Songs for Ghosts being a retelling of Madama Butterfly opera by Puccini where Cio-Cio-San has more agency than just the reductive submissive wife trope. Adam is a seventeen year old whose boyfriend just broke up with […]



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