Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Hiding in plain sight.

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson

by Leave a Comment

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis is a romanticized look at how two Jewish girls lived when millions did not. Told in alternating voices, the Narrator, and “Anna” herself or, Zhanna Arshanskaya we learn how Zhanna and her sister Frina, were hiding in plain sight. They performed for the Nazi command, allies of the Nazi and eventually, for themselves. But no matter how much they feared being found out, betrayed by supposed friends, or their hatred of the Nazis, they always felt […]

A list of books are fun titles

Click V02 Camp by Kayla Miller

One Wish: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University by M.O. Yuksel

Invasion of the Unicorns by David Biedrzycki

The Last Straw by Zoe Matthiessen

by Leave a Comment

This list of books are fun titles that I am unable to write a full review of. Therefore, I am giving highlights of one graphic novel and three picture books. After you say, “a fun story of friends and summer camp” you have pretty much said it all about Click V02 Camp by Kayla Miller. I should add it is a graphic novel with the cover giving you pretty much all you need to know about the illustrations. They are colorful and funny. There is […]

The crime, the punishment, the Americanized reporter

Honor by Thirty Umrigar

by Leave a Comment

The world of India is opened in a way few know within the pages of Honor by Thirty Umrigar. The Beauty and The Beast of this country with its different cultures, traditions, physical light and ugly are out in the open. When a Hindu woman and her Muslim husband, are attacked by her brothers, killing her husband, an American reporter takes on her story. Not just because another woman was involved in an Honor Killing, but because she is willing to stand up to her […]

Gao’s debut is messy, but yet, it is wonderfully so!

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao

by Leave a Comment

Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American is a messy book. But it is all wrapped up in a neatly created graphic novel. The world of Laura Gao has been seen in other stories (this is a coming-of-age story with features we know: immigration, expectations of family, coming out), but hers is completely unique to her and therefore, to the reader. At first, the book seems like it might be about the pandemic, and what happens to her and her family as Chinese […]

Abstract reading

Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

by Leave a Comment

Kaleidoscope is classic Brian Selznick with the illustrations. It is busy, crowded, soft, heavy, black and white, surreal and realistic. However, the story is not what I expect from Selznick. It is abstract. Several stories are contained into three parts: Morning, Afternoon and Evening. All of these stories feel as if they should be connected, but none actually seem to be actually connected. Or are they? There are images that show up in more than one story (the boys breaking into a place and burning […]

Things could probably be okay if it wasn’t for that meddling, dead, Abuela

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

by Leave a Comment

As a teen I might have been a bit more into Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland. The twist to the plot point was a bit of a slap, even though the description tells you what it will be. By going with a real “not dead” aspect, considering the spiritual aspects of the rest of the book was awkward. The pacing of the story is a slowly building up that at first was a great way to keep me […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo