Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Raindrops falling on everything

It Starts With A Raindrop by Sally Garland

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I almost did not write a review for It Starts With A Raindrop by Sally Garland and illustrated by Aimee Gallagher. This was not because it was bad, or because I didn’t like it, but because it started as a “been there done that” read. It is a poem (slightly romantic and feeling simplistic) about the life cycle of a raindrop and the things it does. You have facts about things (the drop will fall in the puddles, or sand; it will find oceans and […]

Why does Superman always get top billing?

Superman's Good Guy Gang by Rob Justus

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Perhaps I should not admit I read something like Superman’s Good Guy Gang by Rob Justus as it is, well, a bit on the less than mature side. This is not for the adult reader who likes a more sophisticated book, but if your child (or you) are a typical five to eight-year-old who has a slightly goofy sense of humor and likes superheroes then this is for you. So, in other words I will admit I read it and say I know there’s an […]

Sisters, secrets and dog catchers

Ruff Day (Sixth-Grade Shape-Shifter) by Steven Scott

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Ruff Day (Sixth-Grade Shape-Shifter) by Steven Scott and illustrated by Lavinia Brandizi is due in August 2025. And in fact, perhaps the whole series is. It is possible then that when reading my online reader copy I was not starting with book one. This would make sense as there are several pieces of information that are missing and are only “filled in” as almost sidebars and/or to explain to someone when they find out the secret of our main character. The premise is that our […]

She was “Sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

The Story of Fannie Lou Hamer: An Inspiring Biography for Young Readers (The Story of Biographies) by Margeaux Weston

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She was born Fannie Lou Townsend. She became Fannie Lou Hamer after marrying. She would be born to a large family (20 children) run by sharecropper parents. She did as much schooling as she could, leaving school at a young age, but continuing to read and learn whenever she could.  As she grew she felt that having to work so hard for little results, the discrimination, having to struggle to take care of a family, and having no rights because she was a black woman […]

Go read Melissa while your library still carries it

Melissa by Alex Gino

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On November 7, 2024, I binge-ordered a bunch of books from banned lists – not sure why I remember the date of that order so clearly….  Anyway, my hope was to collect books that I wanted to be sure my daughter has access to, and since I haven’t read many of them myself, I’m planning to alternate them between my usual mysteries, fantasy, and sci-fi.  Melissa is the first book from our new banned book collection that I’ve read. Melissa is geared toward middle-grade kids […]

Jenny and the Cat Club

Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill

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In February’s installment of “reading out loud to kids” we have Jenny and the Cat Club, a book I bought because it looked cute and had cats. While there is an overarching narrative arc, it’s really a collection of short stories about a shy black cat named Jenny Linksy who lives with a retired sea captain in Greenwich Village in 1944. (Also published in 1944!) Jenny is quite shy but finds community and friendship in the cat club, whose esteemed members include, but are not […]



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