Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

To tell the truth, the whole truth

Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria by Muhammad Najem

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cbr17bingo Diaspora (this could be culture, but he upheaval of the Syrian people unfortunately fits.) Sadly, this book, Muhammad Najem, War Reporter: How One Boy Put the Spotlight on Syria, is nonfiction. I say sadly as nobody, let alone children and teenagers should have to go through what he did. Muhammad Najem, Nora Neus and Julie Robine gathered their talents and told the story of Muhammad as he risked not only his life, but the lives of his family, friends and neighbors. He wanted to be […]

The boy who became a fighter

Worthy : The Brave and Capable Life of Joseph Pierce by Andrea Wang

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I read a book that at first glance, I figured wouldn’t be “all that” as American Civil War stories are known, people of color are having their stories told and Asian people are having their stories told. How could this book be different? Well, when author Andrea Wang and illustrator Youa Vang got together they combined the three elements and made a unique, well-thought out story of one man and how he triumphed over adversity. That man was Joseph Pierce. His birth name has been […]

Finding Home

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

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If you want a really tough read, and not just because of the theme, then pick up As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh. None of the difficulties I had with this book comes from the story or even technically the writing itself. However, my issues were that the beginning is slow. There is a lot of build up, taking what feels like forever to “get to the point.” The author, like her main characters, are terrible flirts (as in they like […]

“Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.”

James by Percival Everett

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I heard from multiple people that James was THE BOOK to read last year, and it was on a lot of best of lists, so I was exicted to give it a read. It fully hooked me from the first sentence “Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.” I didn’t have a lot of expectations about this book, but having me chuckle from the start was a surprise. This is a retelling of the classic tale Huck Finn but from the […]

1998, Colombo. The Sri Lankan Civil War is raging and there is Kavi

I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera

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There are a few spoilers below about the book I Am Kavi by Thushanthi Ponweera.   Overall it is an interesting book. It had a few bumps for my personal tastes, but for the aged 10 and up crowd (and me back then) it is a will love title. The themes are mostly familiar, but the setting is fresh. You should read the afterwards and author notes for the extra background, information and author commentary. The format while prose poetry flows as full prose, the […]

Perhaps the most American of novels.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

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In 1905, Thomas Dixon’s The Clansmen: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan was published to massive sales and widespread scorn. The book was supportive of segregation, and glorified not only the Confederacy, but the Klan it was purporting to tell the story of. One year later, mobs of white Atlantans massacred African Americans following lurid and unfounded accusations made in local newspapers about the alleged rape of four white women at the hands of black men. At least 25 black people were murdered […]



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