Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Children’s Music comes to life

A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins (The First Lady of Children's Music) by Ty-Juana Taylor

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I was  texting with a friend of mine the other day about how I like biographies of people who are not as well known. I had not yet found A Life of Song: The Story of Ella Jenkins (The First Lady of Children’s Music) by Ty-Juana Taylor and illustrated by Jade Johnson at that time,  but boy does it fit that category. If I had heard of Ella Jenkins, I have since forgotten it.  She is a woman who brought music to the people to […]

Paint feelings

Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony : La Grande Vallée Suite by Lisa Rogers

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I was hoping for more factual information in Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony : La Grande Vallée Suite by Lisa Rogers and illustrated by Stacy Innerst, but the spirit of the book is as if the artist herself had painted it. Only not abstract and it does have good facts, just focuses more on a poetic execution on the subject. The main point that grabbed my attention was that I was not really aware of the artist, but I think I have seen some of […]

Are you a Lucy Stoner?

One Girl's Voice : How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land by Vivian Kirkfield and Rebecca Gibbon

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You have probably heard of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but have you heard about Lucy Stone? You might not have, but you should as she would influence Anthony and others to join the women’s rights movement and to keep up the good fight. The title One Girl’s Voice : How Lucy Stone Helped Change the Law of the Land by Vivian Kirkfield and illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon inspired me to google Women’s Right Activists to see if Stone’s name came up. Even […]

The Other Empresses

The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe by Nancy Goldstone

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While Victoria of Great Britain is the most well-known of the empresses who reigned in Europe in the 19th century, she is by no means the only one. While Eugenie of France and Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary did not rule in their own right, they left their own marks on the lands and people over which they reigned too. I read omnivorously, but sometimes one wants to come back to the basics, and for me books about royalty count among the basics. I’m quite familiar with […]

The man, the woman and their influences on books

Outside In and Inside Out: A Story About Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner

Fanny's Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born by Richard Michelson and Alyssa Russell

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For the longest time, biographies were the only non-fiction reading I did. I would  explore that genre more as I got older, but I always hold a spot in my heart and read piles for biographies. And picture book biographies have become a staple to read. Two that grabbed my attention and made me need to talk about them were Outside In and Inside Out: A Story About Arnold Lobel by Emmy Kastner and Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week Was Born by Richard […]

Funny thoughts and melting glaciers

Montana Diary by Whit Taylor

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I had not officially finished Montana Diary by Whit Taylor as I typed this review. And it is only 30-odd pages (another reviewer’s entire review I borrowed:  A (very) short comic about a visit to Montana. A little history, a little nature.). It has taken me two days to get as far as I have. Now, I will say that I am sure Taylor is a lovely person and I would like to sit down and have a cup of tea with them. I would […]



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