Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

What stars are made of

The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of Stars by Laura Alary

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TITLE: The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of Stars AUTHOR:  Laura Alary ILLUSTRATOR:  Yas Imamura  PUB DATE: Late January 2026 READ AS: Online reader copy RESULT:  Dang this is good! NEED MORE?: YES OKAY MORE: This is a picture book about Cecila Payne, who was a young girl who did not fit in. She stood out in many ways not just because she was taller than other girls/women, not just because she was a female, but because she really loved nature and […]

I wanna be her when I grow up!

Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe by Amy S. Hansen, Wanda Diaz Merced and Rocio Arreola Mendoza

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Of course astronomers are not people we see a lot in biographies for children and especially women astronomers. But when you find a book called Wanda Hears the Stars: A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe you think, “Did I see that right? A female astronomer?”  Then you see the word “blind” and realize she was also blind. What the fudge…..????? And, yes, we read that right. Amy S. Hansen with Wanda Díaz Merced, and illustrated by Rocio Arreola  Mendoza created a book about Merced. […]

Her head in the Stars

Comet Chaser: The True Cinderella Story of Caroline Herschel, the First Professional Woman Astronomer by Pamela S Turner

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First, let me get the work stuff out of the way, though it is available, I read Pamela S Turner’s book via an online reader copy.  Overall, Comet Chaser: The True Cinderella Story of Caroline Herschel, the First Professional Woman Astronomer, is a beautiful book. The story is what you expect: in a time when girls were housekeepers, got married and had little to no education, we find Herschel as a child, watch her grow and finally see the woman she would become. She is […]

I like reading about not popular people

The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of by Kirsten W. Larson

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Do you know Cecilia Payne? Well since she passed in 1979 so the odds are you do not/did not know her, but in The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of you can meet her on the page. Due in February 2023, I read Kirsten W. Larson’s book via online through Edelweiss. The story was a little confusing at first as there are two parts going on simultaneously. The first is a star is born […]

In the 19th Century she was first

What Miss Mitchell Saw by Hayley Barrett

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A simple, but not simplistic look at Maria Mitchell and all the amazing things she saw comes to life in What Miss Mitchell Saw. Hayley Barret created a biography that reads as fiction about the first professional female astronomer. Yet, it is not just about what she saw (as what was out there had already been seen by others in the past) but the one very important find in the sky that made her world famous and respected by her peers and even a King. […]



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