Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Davis lecturing and marching.

Be the Light: How She Became Angela Davis by Daria Peoples

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Do you know who Angela Davis is? If you do, you are one up on me. I had never heard of them, or if I had it was just a footnote in history. And to be honest, Davis deserves to be more than a footnote. She needs her own thousand paged book. Instead I must settle for the clever picture book (currently available but read on line) Be the Light: How She Became Angela Davis written and illustrated by Daria Peoples. Davis was born in […]

Their voices

Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology by Amber McBride, Erica Martin, Taylor Byas and LLC Ashwin Writing

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Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology by Amber McBride, Erica Martin, Taylor Byas and LLC Ashwin Writing (photographer) is getting a lot of press. It will get a lot of awards and a lot more attention before things are said and done. And it deserves all and everything it gets. It is a very lovely collection of poems. We have contemporary poets and classical ones, too. You will know some of the poems and others will […]

Two reviews for you

Mary Had a Little Jam by Tammi Sauer and Vanessa Brantley-Newton

Pencil  by Hye-Eun Kim

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My recent picture book reading day included a lot of books. So many in fact that I had to break them into two different reviews. Also read and now included in this review were Mary Had a Little Jam by Tammi Sauer and Vanessa Brantley-Newton and Pencil  by Hye-Eun Kim. Well, Hye-Eun Kim’s book was more looked at than read as it is a wordless picture book. And still Pencil is something that I can write several words about. The fun part of this book […]

Look forward with the words of Watson

Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson and Ekua Holmes

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Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renée Watson was one of those books I had heard about, seen, but never really wanted to read. I mean, I like young adult literature, I like poetry and I like young adult poetry. However, I judged the book by the cover and theme. I assumed it would be some flowery “poor me” story. Instead, it is a truly strong and amazing short collection of poems that are relatable, informative and thoughtful. The language is lovely, but straight forward. […]

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 […]

The first woman to sit down was a teenager

Claudette Colvin: I Want Freedom Now! by Claudette Colvin

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We know Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks, Dr. King and more of the civil rights movement people, but do you know Claudette Colvin? She was a teenager who one day was sitting on the bus. She was, like Rosa after her, tired and knew her rights. She said No, I’m not giving up my seat. She would be yelled out, arrested and charged with numerous crimes (none of which were true). And her mother and preacher would bail her out of jail. But that was not […]



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