Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Dance, Dance, Dance, AS IF, tomorrow we all shall die!”

Disco Witches of Fire Island: A Novel by Blair Fell

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It’s 1989 and half-Armenian Philly resident Joe Agabian is trying to get over the death of his boyfriend Eddie, who he lost two years ago to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When his best friend Ronnie gets them jobs on Fire Island, Joe figures this is the perfect chance to finally start living again. Once there, they are taken under the wings of Larry and Howie, two older quirky and eccentric gay men who work as house cleaners for the rich of Fire Island. As Joe starts […]

The boy who became a fighter

Worthy : The Brave and Capable Life of Joseph Pierce by Andrea Wang

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I read a book that at first glance, I figured wouldn’t be “all that” as American Civil War stories are known, people of color are having their stories told and Asian people are having their stories told. How could this book be different? Well, when author Andrea Wang and illustrator Youa Vang got together they combined the three elements and made a unique, well-thought out story of one man and how he triumphed over adversity. That man was Joseph Pierce. His birth name has been […]

Bishop might take Knight, but the Queen wins

Elsa's Chessboard by Jenny Andrus

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For the grandmother that wanted to play chess with her granddaughter, author Jenny Andrus wrote Elsa’s Chessboard. She was a child who did not have interest in an “old dusty game,” but now she is giving us a peek at the woman who would change chess in ways unexpected. Based on the life of Elsa Konstandt Weisz, we go from Vienna to San Francisco as a young Jewish woman flees WWII and makes a new home in the United States, all the while keeping her […]

Play ball, swim, tennis, hockey and more safely and comfortably

This Skirt Won't Work!: How Women Athletes Changed Their Clothes and Changed the Game by Jennifer Cooper

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History has many layers. Dresses can have many layers.  But whereas history plays out, it is hard to play most sports or ride a bicycle in dresses. Especially the outfits that many women athletes would wear before some enterprising women decided to change things up. This Skirt Won’t Work!: How Women Athletes Changed Their Clothes and Changed the Game by Jennifer Cooper and illustrator Eva Byrne follows how tennis went from a long skirt to a 1920s fashion statement. How women hockey players would change […]

It’s a Hard Knock Life

Living by Henry Green

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Written in 1929 by a young innovative author, Living is the account of life in a British factory town of that time.  We follow both the workers of the factory and the owner’s lives.  The factory is an iron foundry, just starting to shift from a hand-crafted tradition to a more automated version.  Most of the workers featured are the older generation, having been with the firm most of their lives, and not a few are facing retirement, voluntary or not, without much of a […]

Do you think I read a lot?

Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros: A True Story by Jane Kurtz

Woody's Words : Woodrow Wilson Rawls and Where the Red Fern Grows by Lisa Rogers

Woods & Words: The Story of Poet Mary Oliver. by Sara Holly Ackerman

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Biographies are a fun genre.  You can find out fun facts about favorite authors, poets or even rhinoceroses. Yes, rhinoceroses can have a biography, too. After all, it is hard for them to hold a pencil in their hoof for them to write an autobiography. Therefore, I will start off with Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros: A True Story (in case you doubt me that this is a biography of a rhino, there is “true story” in the title). Jane Kurtz created a story that gives […]



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