Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Shaping the structures of the world

Mr. Pei's Perfect Shapes: The Story of Architect I. M. Pei by Julie Leung

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Mr. Pei’s Perfect Shapes: The Story of Architect I. M. Pei by Julie Leung and illustrated by Yifan Wu is a WOW! book. Not because it is the best book ever (though it is in the top 25 for 2024 so far), but because it is different from what I have been reading and it is about someone that I had never heard of before, or if I had, not someone who had “clicked” as he was not a mainstream name (such as Frank Lloyd […]

One curse, one family, a lifetime of growing up

Salt Magic by Hope Larson

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Salt Magic by Hope Larson and illustrated by  Rebecca Mock is an experience book. You read it, you have an experience. Mine is different from yours, and yours is different from the third guy’s reading. Things are if Alice in Wonderland met Wizard of Oz and something else…. I can’t put my finger on it. The artwork is the main character, though we are being told the story which is narrated, in text, by a young girl in the years right after World War I. […]

Actor, activist, and author

My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story by George Takei

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Named after an English king, he would go on and represent Asian Americans in Hollywood and beyond. Some know him as the “Oh my!” guy, some know him as a human and GLBTQ+ rights advocate, some know him as a playwright, but most probably know him as Mr. Sulu on Star Trek. His name is George Takei. He would live through several years of some of the worst American history during World War II. While we were fighting for Liberty in Europe and Japan, we […]

“There are no stupid questions, nor any forbidden ones, but there are some questions that have no answer.”

Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition by Hedi Fried

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Four main things stand out for me from reading Questions I Am Asked About The Holocaust : Young Reader’s Edition. The first, it took the author, Hedi Fried, a lifetime to heal and process her experiences; the second, history has repeated itself, and third, while I knew what genocide meant (there is also a glossary that gives a technical definition) it was broken down by etymology: genos: people and cide: murder, or People Murder. But perhaps the big takeaway from this translation by Alice E. Olsson […]

The 3 Named Hippie Nun

Sister Corita's Words and Shapes by Jeanette Winter

Signs of Hope: The Revolutionary Art of Sister Corita Kent by Mara Rockliff

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Who was Sister Corita? To start with, she was a woman who would have three names by the end of her life, each representing that chapter her journey was in.  Born Frances Elizabeth Kent, she would enter the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart at age 18, becoming Sister Mary Corita Kent, then after over 30 years, she would leave them and become Corita Kent. She was a creative person that made her students think, see/look, and do it outside of the box. During a time […]

Never view being a girl as an obstacle

Virginia Wouldn't Slow Down!: The Unstoppable Dr. Apgar and Her Life-Saving Invention by Carrie A. Pearson

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Virginia Wouldn’t Slow Down!: The Unstoppable Dr. Apgar and Her Life-Saving Invention is another read online via Edelweiss that was mostly there. Carrie A. Pearson’s book was more fleshed out than the other sample I read, and perhaps is one of the best biographies of an unknown person I have read. And of course, I will find a copy when it comes out to fill in the plot points missing. Dr. Virginia Apgar would invent a test that would help doctors evaluate newborns and their health, […]



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