Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Maybe if I write a poem to a tree it’ll write back and give me pointers on my poetry…..

Poetree by Shauna Lavoy Reynolds

by Leave a Comment

While the ending is a bit cliched, over all Poetree is a fun way to introduce poetry to that “middle aged” young reader. The poetry is mixed into the story, therefore, making this not only a poetry book, but one with a story. Which is, friendship comes in unusual places. Shauna Lavoy Reynolds tells the story of a young girl who thinks the tree she finds most lovely, is writing poems back to her after she leaves one for it. Therefore, she write s more […]

Tug If You Need Anything

Gmorning, Gnight! Little Pep Talk for Me & You by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jonny Sun (illustrator)

by 2 Comments

Those of you who have been reading my reviews for the past several years know that I have both depression and anxiety, and while I’m taking meds and seeing a therapist it doesn’t always mean that I’m necessarily feeling well. Often, I feel like shit. Like many, many people I use certain rituals to keep my head on straight and one of them when I’m feeling poorly is to go see what Lin-Manuel Miranda had tweeted for his Gmorning/Gnight tweets of the day. Other times […]

Now Hear This

The Poet X: A Novel by Elizabeth Acevedo

by 3 Comments

The Poet X is a novel written in verse and the recipient of many prestigious awards including the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. In this impressive debut work, Elizabeth Acevedo demonstrates with passion and heart both the power and the vital necessity of being heard, especially when you are a young woman of color. And conversely, the novel shows the terrible destructive power of being silenced, ignored and relegated to an object, a mere physical body subject to the rules and punishments of […]

Enduring a hundred humiliations, I can only cry in vain

Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940 by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung

by 1 Comment

  As immigrants from China arrived by boat to San Francisco in the early 1900s, they were detained at Angel Island to await determination of their immigration application. Men and women were separated and held for weeks to months at a time while awaiting entry in to the United States or deportation back to China. The progressively stricter immigration laws during that time were aimed at keeping Chinese immigrants out of the country. With no contact with their families, no freedom to wander the island, […]

Party in 17 years

Cicada by Shaun Tan

by Leave a Comment

Cicada is a four only for Shaun Tan’s signature styled illustrations. They are the most amazing and interesting part of the book. The story itself is a thinly veiled story of a worker being persecuted with being the “underpaid, underappreciated, worker because they are not like others due to their minority status (i.e.: they are black, gay, Asian, poor, fat, unattractive, a cicada).” Cicada does not help this by speaking “improper English” by telling his story in choppy sentences (“Cicada tell story. Story good.”). And […]

Bite-sized sorcery and sunshine

GMorning, GNight! little pep talks for me & you by Lin-Manuel Miranda

by 4 Comments

I wanted my first read of this year, and my first CBR11 review, to be of Gmorning Gnight for a lot of reasons: Because I don’t know about you, but I could use some pep talks.  Because Lin-Manuel defines happiness to me, seems like maybe he’s a sorcerer, and somehow manages to elevate even tweets to an artform.  Because the illustrations of Jonny Sun shine with a Silverstein-ian simplicity that radiate glee and grace.   Because “its nice to have things to hold on to, some […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo